Dallas Stars: Wrapping Up A Busy First Day Of 2019 Free Agency

Joe Pavelski

After visiting the Dallas Stars’ practice facility on Wednesday as part of his “free agent interview period” adventure and the rumors spreading on Saturday that he was expected to sign in Dallas, the Stars signing Joe Pavelski on July 1 didn’t necessarily come as a shock.

But that in no way diminishes the impact that the signing carries.

Dallas inked the former San Jose Sharks captain and All-Star to a three-year contract that carries an AAV of $7 million. The deal will make him the third highest-paid player on the team, coming in just below Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin in terms of AAV. There’s a good reason for that.

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Pavelski, 34, is coming off of one of the best seasons of his 13-year NHL career. In his fourth season as captain, Pavelski logged 38 goals, 64 points (21 of which came on the power play), and won 53.2 percent of his draws in the face-off dot across 75 regular season games. He also tacked on four goals and nine points in 13 postseason contests.

It was another successful year in a strand of quality campaigns put together by the center. Since the 2013-14 season, Pavelski has averaged 34 goals, 71 points, and a face-off win percentage of 54.0 percent in 19:33 of average ice time per game. He’s also been a reliable force in the lineup, missing just eight games over the past eight seasons combined.

And when the Sharks couldn’t find a fit for him under their cap after signing defenseman Erik Karlsson to a large extension, Pavelski began searching for what should be the final home of his NHL career.

“Well obviously, I was getting closer to the free agent window,” Pavelski said during a phone interview on July 1. “Once that happened, there were a lot of teams calling in. It was kind of always the thought of if we’re going to be leaving San Jose, we weren’t just going to go to the highest bidder. There were definitely some boxes that we wanted checked off. One of them was we wanted to feel that the team was close to winning. And after playing against the Stars and playing against some of their players and kind of the season that they had, they were a team that checked off a lot of the boxes for us.

“So, they were one of the couple of teams that we visited and talked to and that’s how one of the visits started with them. Then we came in and we spent a couple of days there with some of the management, saw the city, the youth rinks, the schools, and the neighborhoods and just really tried to visualize ourselves being here. It seemed like a perfect fit for us.”

And while the Stars check off a lot of Pavelski’s boxes, he more than satisfies many of their needs.

"“I showed him video as to why and how we needed him and why he’s going to make us better. Then it was lunch with Jim Nill, Jamie Benn was there, and Tom Holy came because he has a great relationship with him. It was a great team effort, and that’s not bumping anyone’s tires. I think he understood how close we all are and how much we all believe that we’re headed in the right direction, and I think that was important for him. Being able to see and believe that we are and we believe that we’re that close to being one of the elite teams is something that obviously was very important to Joe.” –Montgomery on his role in recruiting Pavelski to Dallas"

With Pavelski, the Dallas Stars are getting a veteran leader that can play any position on offense, drive possession, play valuable minutes on the power play and penalty kill, and help round out their top-six. He’s got a knack for scoring goals and succeeds at doing so in front of the net using a deflection after gaining position. He can boost an offense and make the players around him better scorers.

“With Joe Pavelski, he’s someone that has overachieved his whole career in a lot of people’s minds, even people today still underestimate him,” Montgomery said of the newly-acquired center. “Because of his details and his habits, he’s a perfectionist. He works at it and it’s not by fluke that he scores 38 goals at the age of 34. I don’t see him slowing down and I actually think he’s going to make everybody a better goal scorer because of his habits and details. If you don’t learn by osmosis, you’re not out on the ice enough and he’s going to drag you into that.”

Pavelski’s high hockey IQ, reliability, and offensive capabilities make him an intriguing add for Dallas after the departure of Mats Zuccarello. And though he’s a bit older than Zuccarello, there’s no doubt in the forward’s mind that he will be ready to make a sudden and sizable impact in the Dallas lineup next season.

“I feel great right now,” Pavelski said. “I don’t know what people say their prime is, but some of my best years have been 30-35. There’s no reason that number isn’t going to stretch to 35, 36, and 37 and I believe that. The one knock on me has always been my skating and that I haven’t been as fast as the other guys, but I’ve never felt out of place out there and I’ve always been able to get it done. I’ve been at this level for a long time and I don’t see it going down.”

It’s an intriguing add for the Dallas Stars and should bolster an offense that finished 28th in scoring last year. If Pavelski can come in and contribute at least 30 goals (which he’s done in four of the past six seasons) while also generating possession time and making the young forwards around him better, he just might be one of the best additions any team makes in the 2019 offseason.