Benn's bout with Byfuglien impresses former Stars enforcers Churla and Severyn

DALLAS — Fighting’s role in the NHL has greatly diminished, but every now and then a fight grabs your attention and is reminsicent of the fight-heavy 1980s and early 1990s.

That’s what happened when Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn fought Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien on Thursday in Winnipeg.

It was a fight between two big-name players and neither player was overly concerned with playing defense in the bout.

Benn standing up for his teammates impressed a pair of former Stars enforcers, including Shane Churla — the original Stars enforcer from 1993 to 1996 — who is in town for his reunion night on Saturday.

“Those are two big men, I’ll tell you what,” Churla said. “It’s good to have a captain that will do that. It shows he’s willing to lead by example. You don’t want him doing it all the time. But when he does step up like that, it says a lot to his teammates.”

Brent Severyn, who is now a television analyst for Fox Sports Southwest, had similar thoughts.

“You know he’s angry. It’s needed, it’s nice to have a captain that can do that,” Severyn said. “Do you want your high-price player doing that too often? No, he could break his hand. But overall I think it was a good job by him.”

Severyn said the key for a star playing fighting is carefully picking his opponents.

“I love that he stayed within his pay grade,” Severyn said. “You’ve always got to stay within your pay grade when you’re fighting. When you look at Jamie, it’s (fights against) Thornton, it’s Iginla, it’s some of the higher-paid players because you don’t want to mess with the fourth liners.”

That being said, Severyn would like to see the captain use a bit more defense. Right now many of his fights look like a Rocky movie with both combatants swinging without any concern for their health.

“My thing is I wish he would fight a little more defensive minded,” Severyn said. “It’s a little scary how he’s grabbing the middle of jerseys, especially when he fought the big Russian kid (Vancouver’s Nikita Tryamkin). When you’re fighting bigger, taller guys, you want to make sure you’re squaring up.”

Churla is now the Montreal Canadiens of director of amateur scouting. He used to work in scouting with the Stars, and said the occasional fight is part of a complete package that Benn brings to the game.

“Jamie, I was here when we drafted him, and he’s just turned into the ultimate player,” Churla said. “I think if I could ever come back as a player, and you’d let me pick anybody, I’d pick Jamie Benn, I really would. I really like the depth to his game, he’s a player that can do everything.”