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SAN JOSE — Doug Wilson made the boldest move — and maybe even his biggest gamble — of his tenure as Sharks general manager when in June of last year he signed two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to a eight-year, $92 million contract extension, the richest deal in team history.
But with that decision came ramifications.
The most of important of which was that there was not going to be enough room under this season’s NHL’s salary cap of $81.5 million to fit Joe Pavelski, who established himself as one of the greatest players in team history.
“The impact he’s had on this franchise and his teammates are going to be felt for years to come,” Wilson said July 1, the day Pavelski signed a three-year, $21 million deal with the Dallas Stars. “With a cap system, these are pretty difficult decisions.”
The Sharks will welcome back Pavelski on Saturday night when they host the Stars in one of the more anticipated regular season games at SAP Center in recent memory.
Pavelski played 13 seasons in San Jose, serving as captain from 2015-2019, and finished his career with the Sharks with 335 goals and 761 points in 963 regular season games.
“It’ll be weird,” Pavelski said Friday. “Probably just seeing the jersey’s going to be the toughest part. Just be awkward in a lot of ways, probably.”
The Sharks have felt his absence from a production standpoint, as they are averaging 2.64 goals per game, 26th-best in the NHL. They sit 13th in the Western Conference with a 20-22-4 record, and odds are they will miss the playoffs for just the second time in the last 16 seasons.
But there may be more to it than just the numbers. With the way he carried himself, Pavelski, now 35, became the heart-and-soul of the Sharks, synonymous with the crest he wore and the city he grew up in.
“You could argue that it’s still a bit of an adjustment period,” Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said of the team’s time without their former captain, adding that Pavelski was, “everything about Sharks hockey.”
Let’s look at the ways Pavelski’s absence has been felt.
1. Even strength play: Pavelski had 219 goals and 236 assists at even strength in his 13 seasons with the Sharks. Twenty-five of those goals came last season.
This season, the Sharks’ leader in even strength goals is Logan Couture with 14, followed by Timo Meier with 13 ad Tomas Hertl with 11.
When Pavelski had to miss seven games late last season with a lower body injury, the Sharks, also without Erik Karlsson at that time, went 1-5-1 and scored just 15 even strength goals.
As Pavelski has struggled to find the back of the net this season with just eight goals in 44 games, the Sharks have had a team-wide problem producing at even strength. Going into Saturday, the Sharks are 23rd in the NHL with 82 goals coming at 5 on 5.
Pavelski averaged close to 19 minutes per game in his time with the Sharks and won 55 percent of his faceoffs. He had 58 game-winning goals.
“Especially our system, it was made perfectly for Pavs,” Sharks winger Timo Meier said. “Him and (Thornton) with those high tips. I don’t know how many tips (Pavelski) got when he and (Brent Burns) connected. He was definitely a huge part of our success.”
Besides his production, Pavelski showed his importance over the years by sliding over and playing center when the Sharks were dealing with injuries to players such as Joe Thornton and Hertl. His natural position is right wing.
The Sharks are dealing with those issues right now with Couture out for approximately six weeks with a broken bone in his left ankle. Marleau can slide over and play center if need be, but at the moment, the Sharks have Hertl, Thornton, Antti Suomela and Joel Kellman as their four centers.
The Sharks won their first game without Couture on Thursday, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1.
2. Power play production: Without Pavelski, the Sharks were a mess with the man advantage throughout much of the first half the season. After 41 games, they had just 17 power play goals in 119 chances, a 14.3 success rate that ranked 29th in the league.
Including their 2-0 loss to Detroit Red Wings, the Sharks, in a 20-game stretch, went 2-for-49 with the man advantage.
The Sharks have turned things around recently, switching up the personnel on the two power play units and having players in different spots. That’s led to a surge in production, as the Sharks have five power play goals in their last five games, and was ranked 24th in the NHL (16.9 percent) as of Friday morning.
The Sharks had a 16.7 percent success rate on the power play in 2016-17, but otherwise never finished a season below 17 percent with Pavelski on the roster. From 2006 to 2019, Pavelski had 278 power play points, second only in that time to Thornton’s 354.
Without a tipper like Pavelski, the Sharks weren’t as effective with their low to high strategy, where pucks are shot from the point toward the net with traffic in front.
3. Leadership: Kevin Labanc told a story about how Pavelski mentored him when he was first breaking into the NHL in the 2016-17 season.
“Changing in the offensive zone,” Labanc said with a smile about some bad habits he picked up in junior hockey. “But he’s so right. Just having a shorter shift, it helps you so much.
“If you’re not back-checking or playing good defensively, he’ll be on you.”
The Sharks have plenty of leaders. Couture has found his voice as a first year captain, and there’s other veteran voices in the room to hold each player accountable.
But everyone noticed when he and Burns used to be the first players on the ice before a practice or a morning skate. He did things the right way, every day.
“It didn’t matter the fact that he 800, 900 games or hundreds of goals, he was always out there working on his craft,” Dillon said. “He was the first guy — whether you were someone coming into play your first game or play your 1,500th game — he’d find a way to connect and make you feel special, make you feel a part of the group.
“I think that was most (impressive) part about it.”
To be clear, the Sharks did not want to let Pavelski go. But more than the money he received from the Stars, the sticking point was the term. Pavelski wanted a three-year deal, and Wilson was not willing to extend that far.
“Always had a feeling that something would probably work out,” Pavelski said Friday of contract talks with the Sharks. “Until it didn’t, it didn’t give me any reason really not to (think that way).”
“It’s emotional,” Wilson said July 1. “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.”
