The Stars are a fringe playoff team right now, and ownership and management are not happy.

Stars CEO Jim Lites said the team has been frustrated by this season so far and, on Friday morning, directed his anger toward franchise cornerstones Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

"It's pissed me off," Lites said. "What nobody says is what is completely obvious to me: We are getting terrible play from our top two players."

Benn and Seguin are two of the NHL's premier players and the horses that will carry Dallas should Stanley Cup aspirations become reality. In the past, they've helped make up some of the best lines in the league, boosting a soaring Stars offense. But this season has left the franchise wanting more from its two players under contract for the longest: Benn through 2024-25 and Seguin through 2026-27.

The franchise has invested more than $150 million in long-term contracts to Benn and Seguin in the last two-plus years. Benn signed an eight-year, $76 million contract in July 2016. Seguin inked an eight-year, $78.8 million contract this September; his salary increase kicks in next season.

"We pay these players to be the best players on our team," Lites said, "and they are consistently out-efforted and outperformed by everybody else's best players."

Seguin leads the Stars with 32 points on 11 goals and 21 assists this season. Benn, the Stars' captain since 2013, is closely behind him with 30 points on 15 goals and 15 assists this season. Benn's 15 goals lead the team, as do Seguin's 21 assists.

"If 14 and 91 don't lead, we will not be successful," said Lites, who reached out to media members Friday morning to talk. "I think this is the most talented and deep team we've had in years here.

"Certainly, this is the best team that we've put together from a talent perspective since Tom Gaglardi's owned the franchise [2011]. Tom has allowed us to do everything we needed to do to be successful. Whatever it's taken, he's done. And I am tired of getting emails from him saying 'What the hell is going on with our best players?'"

Lites' comments came the day after the Stars beat Nashville 2-0 on the road, to improve to 6-1-1 against the Western Conference's top four teams.

Benn and Seguin were not immediately available for comment. Messages left for both Benn's and Seguin's agents were not immediately returned. A message for general manager Jim Nill was not returned.

Since Seguin was traded to Dallas in the summer of 2013-14, Seguin and Benn have been two of the league's best players.

From then through 2017-18, Benn was third in the league with 403 points and Seguin was tied for sixth with 384 points. Only Alex Ovechkin had more than Seguin's 173 goals. Only Sidney Crosby separated Seguin's 173 goals from Jamie Benn's 172.

Lites picked through both Seguin and Benn's performance this season.

Seguin has been snakebit, hitting either posts or crossbars 11 times to lead the league. His 7.5 shooting percent is the lowest in his career, although his scoring chance numbers have been consistent with those from earlier in his career.

But Stars coach Jim Montgomery previously and Lites on Friday said Seguin isn't getting to the right areas on the ice.

"He's playing on the periphery," Lites said. "I've been in the business forever. I've been with [Hall of Famer] Steve Yzerman in bad seasons, and what you'll find is goal-scoring is a dirty business. You've got to go to hard places. And Tyler, last year, I saw him really perform and get into the difficult spots. This year, I've seen him as a weak forechecker, slow to the action and not getting it done.

"And he's hit a lot of posts. He's had some bad puck luck. But he's not getting dirty. I don't know what it is. I'm not accusing him of being without character, but we're not getting it done."

As for Benn, six of his 15 goals have come on the power play and he's twice gone seven straight games without a goal. Lites mentioned that Benn is a power forward who's a strong forechecker with great hands but just hasn't been getting the job done.

"Jamie Benn hasn't scored a goal from longer than 5 feet all year," Lites said. "He makes plays in the neutral zone that if my kid had done it in squirts, he'd be benched. Am I wrong? He turned the puck over three times yesterday on plays if [Stars rookie] Denis Gurianov had done that, he wouldn't have seen the light of day."

League-wide, the duo sinks down the scoring leaderboard.

Seguin is tied for 57th in the league with players such as Alex DeBrincat, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Hayes and Gustav Nyquist. Benn is tied for 67th in the league with players such as Zach Parise, Tomas Hertl and Jonathan Drouin.

Lites pointed around the league to some of the best players as comparables for Benn and Seguin. Nathan MacKinnon has anchored Colorado's top line. Johnny Gaudreau has led Calgary to prominence in the Pacific Division. Blake Wheeler has been the play-maker to Mark Scheifele's scorer in Winnipeg.

"The owner and I see this the same way," Lites said. "We expect our best players to perform like other team's best players, to be accountable, to have attention to detail, to have responsibility on the ice and off and get the job done for us. And it's not getting done. Game in, game out, the best players on other teams are outplaying the best players on our team."

It is unusual for Lites to speak publically like this about the Stars, let alone the team's two best players. But he felt a need to hold the players accountable, nearly halfway through the season.

"The coach has to, the GM has to, the owner has to, the CEO has to," Lites said. "I have to fricken hold these guys [accountable] and be part of the process of getting these guys to play to their best. ... We don't question their desire to win, but they think it's easy, and that's what bothers me. There's just too much complacency in their games. Lack of attention to detail, and that's what we need. Accountability and attention to detail and hard work."

The biggest concern for the Stars entering the season was secondary scoring. Who would score outside of Benn, Seguin, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg?

"The frustration I have is there were times where I think 'Geez, we're not getting any secondary scoring.'" Lites said. "But we're not getting any primary scoring."

This season, the Stars are 19-16-3 and loosely gripping the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They've taken on the conference's best teams. But they've lost to some lesser ones.

"This team shouldn't even be thinking about missing the playoffs," Lites said. It shouldn't even be an issue. We are too talented, too good, too strong to be performing this poorly."

Lites said this Stars team is one of the best ones he's overseen in Dallas, noting that he's won both a Stanley Cup (1999) and a President's Trophy (2000) with the team. The talent on the team excites him, but the results have not.

The Stars have weathered a rash of injuries on the back end -- including to Norris Trophy candidate Klingberg -- to allow the third fewest goals per game in the league at 2.68. Dallas has leaned on superb goaltending from Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin, breakout seasons from Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, and surprise contributions from AHL recalls to become an elite defensive team. The Stars, however, are averaging just 2.66 goals per game, fifth-worst in the league.

The Stars are entering a critical stretch of their schedule, with 10 of the next 13 games at home, where Dallas plays much better. They'll spend just five days on the road in the next month. They are finally healthy with the recent return of Klingberg. Montgomery's system should take more hold within the team.

Lites said the next 30 games will define the Stars.

"We're either in it, or we're out of it," Lites said.

More from the aftermath of Jim Lites' comments

Stars CEO Jim Lites rips into Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin: 'It's pissed me off ... We are getting terrible play from our top two players'

'I don't play for him': Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin respond to criticism from Stars CEO Jim Lites

It wasn't just Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin -- Stars CEO Jim Lites was going after the media, too

'That message had to get out there': Why Stars GM Jim Nill agrees with the hockey aspect of Jim Lites critique, but not the tone

NHLPA calls Stars CEO Jim Lites' comments about Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin 'reckless and insulting'