Though Dallas Stars veteran Joe Pavelski stopped short of calling it a career, he said that this past season was likely his last.
"This was it for me. It was known for a while, probably," he said during Tuesday's end-of-season media availability. "The plan is not to play next year. ... I don't want to say this is official, but the plan is not to be coming back. There'll be more to come on that. Everything's so raw. ... I'm gonna need a little bit of time to really put it together and figure it out that way, but most likely that was it.
"Couldn't have asked for a better opportunity, a better group of guys to be around. I'm getting through this (scrum) fairly good, but there's been a lot of different emotions down the stretch."
Pavelski was still effective in his 18th NHL campaign, totaling 27 goals and 67 points in 82 regular-season games while spending the bulk of his ice time on the top line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz.
The 39-year-old's production dried up in these playoffs, though. The longtime NHL forward chipped in one goal and four points in 19 contests before the Stars were bounced from the Western Conference Final in six games.
"It still stings, it's gonna sting for a while," Pavelski said. "It's disappointing in the sense that we believe we should still be playing."
Despite his recent dry spell, Pavelski remains the league's active leader in playoff goals (74) and ranks among the top active players in postseason points.
| Rank | Player | P | GP | P/GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sidney Crosby | 201 | 180 | 1.12 |
| 2 | Evgeni Malkin | 180 | 177 | 1.02 |
| 3 | Nikita Kucherov | 167 | 147 | 1.14 |
| 4 | Joe Pavelski | 143 | 201 | 0.71 |
| 5 | Alex Ovechkin | 141 | 151 | 0.93 |
The Wisconsin native hasn't lifted Lord Stanley's Mug, though he advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 and 2020 and made the conference finals on five other occasions, including in back-to-back years with the Stars.
Pavelski became the 25th player to appear in 200 playoff games this spring, but he's the only NHLer without a ring in that group.
Selected by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2003 NHL Draft, Pavelski racked up 476 goals and 1,068 points in 1,332 regular-season games. He enjoyed his best statistical season in 2021-22, when he amassed 81 points in 82 games.
Pavelski will turn 40 in July.
