Marchand: Stars CEO 'might've lost it a little bit too much' in rant

Warning: Story contains coarse language

Brad Marchand disagrees with Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites' profanity-laced tirade about Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn's performance this season.

"There's a lot more going on there than just to throw their top players under the bus," the Boston Bruins forward - and former Seguin teammate - told The Athletic's Joe McDonald on Sunday. He added that Lites "might've lost it a little bit too much there."

Lites tore into the Dallas duo on Friday, calling their recent play "fucking horseshit." Marchand implied Sunday that it was an unfair assessment.

"They are two of the top players in the league and have been for a long time," the Bruins winger said. "So when you're looking at a 30-game segment and they don't put up 50 points in 30 games and you're losing, I don't necessarily agree with that.

"They've been two of the top players in the league the last four or five years, and you haven’t heard a peep out of (Lites) in that time. It doesn't take long for those guys to go off (production-wise by) getting 30 points in 20 games, and (Lites) won't say a whole lot then. You can't expect guys to have their best year every single year. By no means are they having bad years. Compared to what they've done it might not be the same."

Seguin, who signed an eight-year, $78.8-million extension in September, has seen a slight dip in production from his typical pace but leads the team with 33 points in 39 games. He had 32 points in 38 contests at the time of Lites' remarks.

Benn, Dallas' captain, leads the club with 15 goals and has 30 points in 39 games. He's earning $13 million at a cap hit of $9.5 million in the second season of the eight-year extension he inked with the Stars in 2016.