Pavelski seeing Stars as era ends
Veteran headed to Dallas after 13 years in San Jose
SAN JOSE >> Another veteran will be selected to replace Joe Pavelski as the Sharks’ captain in the coming months. Another player will take over his stall inside the team’s dressing room.
But the process of replacing Pavelski’s production and leadership style, and all of the intangibles he brought to the organization over 13 memorable seasons, likely won’t be so simple.
The Sharks began a new era Monday after Pavelski officially signed a threeyear, $21 million deal with the Dallas Stars. Despite months of negotiations, the Sharks were unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension to keep Pavelski in San Jose.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN reported that Pavelski’s deal contains a full no trade clause in the first two years, then a modified no-trade clause in the third year when the NHL will hold its expansion draft for the new, still-unnamed team in Seattle.
Unless the Sharks had made another trade to free up more cap space, they had next to no chance to match the contract offer made by the Stars, who were one goal away this spring of beating the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Sharks signed defenseman Erik Karlsson
to an eight-year, $92 million contract extension two weeks ago, a deal that takes up over 14 percent of the NHL’s $81.5 million salary cap limit for next season. That harmed any chance the Sharks had of keeping Pavelski or other their other unrestricted free agents, as Gus Nyquist signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Joonas Donskoi signed with the Colorado Avalanche.
As of now, after Timo Meier was signed to a fouryear deal worth $24 million later Monday morning, and defenseman Tim Heed was inked to a one-year deal worth just under $1 million, the Sharks have over $73 million tied up in 17 players, according to CapFriendly. They have slightly less than $8 million left under the $81.5 million salary cap limit to spend on six players.
“It (goes) beyond him as a player and him as a person,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said of Pavelski. “The impact he’s had on this franchise and his teammates are going to be felt for years to come. With a cap system, these are pretty difficult decisions.”
Pavelski, who will turn 35 on July 11, said it was important to him to receive a third year in any deal, and that the team he was joining had to be on the verge of winning.
“There was kind of always the thought that, if we were going to leave to San Jose, we weren’t just going to the highest bidder. There was definitely some boxes we wanted checked off,” Pavelski said. “(Dallas) seemed like a perfect fit for us.”
Pavelski made his NHL debut with the Sharks in Nov. 2006 and became the franchise’s second alltime leading scorer with 355 goals. His 406 assists and 761 points rank third all-time in team history and his 963 regular season games played ranks fourth.
Pavelski, the Sharks captain the last four years, also recorded 100 points in 134 career playoff games, as the Sharks made the playoffs in 12 of his 13 seasons with the team. He also played 495 consecutive games from Jan. 2011 to April 2017, the second-longest streak in franchise history behind Patrick Marleau’s record of 624.
“It is tough leaving that,” Pavelski said. “You understand that it’s a change. The friendships are going to be there. Some things don’t change that way. Just what an incredible time we had in San Jose. The organization treated us top notch.
“There was never any doubts or any thing that we look back on and wished we did differently. It was a special time in our life for sure. We’ll miss it for sure.”
The departures of Pavelski, Nyquist and Donskoi leave the Sharks short on wingers, particularly on the right side. There has been speculation for over a week that Marleau will rejoin the team after the last year of the three-year contract he signed with Toronto in 2017 was recently bought out by Carolina. Marleau was traded by the Maple Leafs to the Hurricanes on June 22.
Still, even if Marleau returns, it would appear the Sharks would need someone else to fill a top nine forward role, and it may come from within.
Wilson said coach Pete DeBoer will select the new captain. All signs would seem to point to Couture, 30, who was drafted by the Sharks in 2007 and will be entering his 11th season with the team.
Wilson also said he and Joe Thornton talk “every couple days” and will get deal resolved “in due time.”
For now, the Sharks got a major piece of business done Monday with Meier’s four-year contract extension that eliminated any possibility that the 22-yearold forward would receive an offer sheet from another NHL team. After it became clear that Pavelski would be moving on, talks between the Sharks and Meier’s agent, Claude Lemieux, began to ramp up.
Meier’s contract carries an average annual value of $6 million, making him the third-highest paid forward on the Sharks behind Couture and Evander Kane, whose deals have an AAV of $8 million and $7 million, respectively.
Drafted ninth overall by the Sharks in 2015, Meier has 108 points in 193 career NHL regular season games. He was fourth on the Sharks this past season with 66 points, as he settled in on the team’s top line with Couture. In this year’s playoffs, Meier had five goals and 15 points in 20 games.
After his steady progression over the last three seasons, Meier now figures to be counted on more than ever for the 2019-20 season and beyond.
“I wish (Pavelski) the best of luck in Dallas. It’s obviously sad for us that he leaves,” Meier said. “But I still feel comfortable with the team that we have. Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, (Couture), a lot of good players. It’s a chance for someone like me to step up.”
According to Wilson, Lemieux and Meier wanted a four-year extension, which goes through the 2022-23 season. Meier will still be a RFA at that point, but will only be one year away from unrestricted free agency. The last year of his deal carries a base salary of $10 million, according to CapFriendly.
“It’s emotional,” Wilson said of the days events. “You have a heart and you have a head, and you understand these decisions have to get made, and they get made. So, you have mixed emotions.”