Stars GM doesn't condone language, tone of CEO's critique of Benn, Seguin

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill isn't overly impressed with how CEO Jim Lites decided to call out stars Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

Lites went on an expletive-infused rant Friday about the play of Benn and Seguin, accusing the forwards of being "f---ing horse----." On Sunday, Nill insisted that while he supports Lites' message, he does not agree with the language used in his tirade.

"I was aware he was going to talk to the media," Nill told Nick Alberga and David McCarthy on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. "First of all, I don't condone Jim's language and the tone and we've talked about that and we've addressed that internally. Jim's a very emotional guy. I just think he let the best get a hold of him a little bit, but in the long run, I don't want the message lost either about how the players have to be better. That's the main message.

"Once again I don't condone the language that was used and Jim and I have talked, he agrees. He knows he got carried away, but in the end, the message is our players do have to be better and that's the message he wanted to get out there."

On Saturday, owner Tom Gaglardi told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman that no one would be traded or fired in the wake of the recent comments and that the team's best players must perform as such. For his part, Seguin admitted that he and his teammates "hear the message."

In the short term, the remarks seem to have given the team a bit of a kick, as Dallas dismantled the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Saturday. With victories in back-to-back games, the Stars occupy the final wild-card spot in the West and sit just two points out of third place in the Central Division.

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