With the 205th pick of the 2003 NHL Draft, the San Jose Sharks selected a 5-foot-11, 195-pound forward from Waterloo of the United States Hockey League.
Pavelski never should have made the NHL, let alone become a star. Time should have caught up to him years ago, but he defied the odds again and again and again with skill, heart and soul.
And if his NHL career is over, man, he should be proud.
“This was it for me,” Pavelski said Tuesday, two days after the Dallas Stars were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. “Like, it was known for a while, probably.”
Pavelski, who turns 40 on July 11, said he would take some time to decompress.
“I don’t want to say this is official,” he said, “but the plan is not to be coming back.”
That explains the emotions and comments after the game Sunday.
Wyatt Johnston, the 21-year-old center who has lived at Pavelski’s house the past two seasons, teared up when asked what Pavelski meant to him.
“A lot,” he said. “I can’t thank him and his family enough for what they’ve done for me.”
Captain Jamie Benn reacted the same way to the same question.
“The world,” he said. “All-time teammate, person. Great leader. Good friend.”
Forward Tyler Seguin asked a reporter not to ask about Pavelski. It was too hard.
“Since Day One, since he’s been in here, he’s meant everything to our group, on the ice, off the ice,” he said. “All our golf games, he’s improved all those. Just an amazing person to have in here.”
Out of the 263 skaters selected in the 2003 draft, less than half (118) have played in the NHL. It’s Pavelski, seventh-round pick, who leads the draft class in goals and points in the regular season (476 and 1,068, respectively) and playoffs (74 and 143, respectively).
From Pavelski’s rookie season of 2006-07 through 2023-24, he ranks fifth in goals and seventh in points in the regular season. He’s first in goals and fourth in points in the playoffs.
In NHL history, he’s 13th in playoff goals, two behind Mario Lemieux.
“Captain America” helped the United States win a silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and again represented his country at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Among American players in the NHL, the native of Plover, Wisconsin, ranks sixth in goals and points in the regular season. He’s second goals and fourth in points in the playoffs.
