Joe Pavelski said Tuesday he has no plans to play in the NHL next season.
The Dallas Stars forward, who turns 40 on July 11, had 67 points (27 goals, 40 assists) in 82 regular season games this season, his 18th in the NHL, but was less effective in the playoffs Stanley Cup with four points. (one goal, three assists) in 19 matches. Dallas was defeated by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals in six games.
“That was it for me. It had probably been known for a while,” Pavelski said. “The plan is not to play next year. We’re still going back at some point and decompressing and figuring out all these things, the logistics and all that. I don’t want to say that it It’s official, but the plan is not to play. I’ll come back. There will be more to come on this. Everything is still so raw. It’s going to take me a while to really put it all together. in place and understand that way . It was probably it and I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity and a better group of guys.
Selected by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round (205th) of the 2003 NHL draft, Pavelski totaled 1,068 points (476 goals, 592 assists) in 1,332 regular season games with the Stars and Sharks. He played the last five seasons with the Stars after signing with them as a free agent on July 1, 2019.
After the regular season, Pavelski ranked fifth in goals and games, and seventh in points among active players.
“I don’t know if this will be Joe’s last game or not, but it’s an absolute privilege of my coaching career to coach a guy like that,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said afterward. a 2-1 loss to the Oilers in Game 6 on Sunday. “Our young players are all better for being around a guy like that.”
Pavelski, who played 13 seasons with San Jose, is second in Sharks history in goals (355), third in points (761) and games (1,104) and fourth in assists (406). He was captain from 2015 to 2019 and had 100 points (48 goals, 52 assists) in 134 playoff games for San Jose, helping the team qualify for the playoffs in 12 of them, including making for the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 when the Sharks lost. to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
“He’s a phenomenal player,” said New York Rangers forward Barclay Goodrow, who played with Pavelski in San Jose from 2014 to 2019. “I think coming into the league as a kid, he always took care of young people. He always led by example. This is a guy who did everything right.
“He’s a great player, a better guy. The League will miss him.
In five seasons with Dallas, Pavelski has 307 points (121 goals, 186 assists), including an NHL career-high 81 points (27 goals, 54 assists) in 2021-22. He has played in every game the past four seasons and has only missed two games in his five seasons with the team. Pavelski led the Stars with 13 goals in 27 games when they advanced to the Cup final in 2020, but lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
“There are so many emotions right after this game,” Pavelski said. “They’re all real. I couldn’t have asked for better: better teammates, better organization, everything. We worked hard to try to get to the top and we fell a little behind. But I really enjoyed our time here and what we were able to accomplish with them together.”
DeBoer also coached Pavelski with the Sharks from 2015-2019.
“One of the highlights of my coaching career was when I got to San Jose, and I didn’t know Joe at all,” DeBoer said. “Quickly, through conversations in the room and people around the team, we made him captain. That probably says more about Joe Pavelski than anything else. You had two former captains in that room, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, who are both Hall of Fame players. They both said that Joe Pavelski should be captain… for two guys like him to say, “That’s the guy,” that probably says more about him and. his character and what he stands for than anything anyone could say “One of the biggest parts of my coaching career was working with him, and I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to. doing it again here after San Jose for a few years. “
Pavelski had 143 points (74 goals, 69 assists) in 201 playoff games and qualified for the playoffs in 16 of his 18 seasons. He is first among active players in playoff goals and fourth in points, behind the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby (201) and Evgeni Malkin (180), and the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov (167).
“As athletes, you expect the best from yourself,” Pavelski said. “You reach a certain level, I felt like I was coming from San Jose at an extremely high level, and I believed in it. … I always had high expectations for my game, and I was happy It wasn’t just about me. I played with great players and I came into an organization that had good people and good talent. There was a strong support system around me. ‘made it possible to get back to this level and do that too.’
Among American-born players, Pavelski ranks fifth in points and goals, seventh in games played and 11th in assists. He was a second-team NHL All-Star in 2013-14 when he scored an NHL career-high 41 goals, had 79 points in 82 games with the Sharks and appeared in four All-Star Games of the NHL (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022). ).
“He’s been here since day one, since he’s been here, he’s been everything about our group,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “On the ice, off the ice, in all of our golf games, he made it all better. Just an amazing person to have here.”
Pavelski said he plans to spend more time with his family, including coaching his son in youth hockey.
“Be more present with it,” he said. “It’ll be fun to be a little closer to that. You never know what happens. I love the sport. I think I’m a hockey guy. So I’ll never be too far from that. C It’s fun to be with kids, so if you can help them, just enjoy the game together and go from there.
His Stars teammates agreed it would be a different feeling if Pavelski wasn’t with them next season.
“A few of us were talking, knowing he probably wasn’t coming back,” guard Jake Oettinger said. “I don’t think it will really set in until next year, when you come back for camp and he’s not there. When you’re on the plane and he’s right next to me and he’s not in his seat I don’t think there are enough words to say how present he is and it’s not a hole you’ll be able to. never fill. You will do your best, but you will never fill that. teammate and human being. Being his teammate for four years was incredible. The things he taught me, it’s not even the words he says, it’s just the way he does it. I think the best thing about him is that he doesn’t just do it. say it, he embodies it. He’s an all-time teammate.
NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika, senior writer Dan Rosen and independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report.