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Metro Notes: Morrow, Carrier, Sorokin, Beckman, Pavelski

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The Carolina Hurricanes are dealing with a few injuries as team reporter Walt Ruff shares that defenseman Scott Morrow and forward William Carrier are dealing with lower-body injuries. Morrow’s is not considered serious with him expected back at practice tomorrow but the team medical staff is still evaluating Carrier.

Morrow was originally selected with the 40th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Hurricanes and is largely considered the team’s second-best defensive prospect behind Alexander Nikishin. He had a relatively small chance of cracking Carolina’s blue line out of training camp despite making his NHL debut with the Hurricanes last year. It will be his first full professional season since ending his tenure at the University of Massachusetts and he’s expected to take on a key role with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

Carrier was brought in as an unrestricted free agent this summer to a long-term six-year, $12MM contract to serve in the team’s bottom six. The former Stanley Cup champion winger is largely known for his physicality but is only two years removed from scoring 16 goals in a season with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Hurricanes could create one of the most physically punishing lines in the league if they pair Carrier with team captain Jordan Staal when fully healthy.

Other Metro notes:

  • New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin continues to progress in his recovery from offseason back surgery and is still expected to start the season on time. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reported earlier today that Sorokin has already resumed skating but has failed to appear in a team practice up to this point. He will still have limited time to get into regular season mode as he looks to improve upon a down year in which he produced a .906 SV% and 3.01 GAA in 55 starts.
  • Adam Beckman’s first preseason with the New Jersey Devils is off to a slow start with James Nicholas of New Jersey Hockey Now reporting he is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Beckman was acquired by the Devils from the Minnesota Wild a few days before Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final in late June. He’s not expected to be a part of New Jersey’s roster for the upcoming season. Still, he could have a valuable role with their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, after scoring 19 goals and 33 points in 51 games for the AHL’s Iowa Wild last year.
  • Longtime NHL veteran Joe Pavelski appears to be moving quickly onto his next plans after retirement. The Pittsburgh Penguins TV play-by-play announcer, Josh Getzoff, reported today that Pavelski was at the team’s training camp with general manager Kyle Dubas and assistant general manager Jason Spezza. There has been no indication since the Penguins are considering Pavelski for a role in their front office but it may be a small insight into Pavelski’s future in the NHL.

Snapshots: Blackhawks, Pavelski, Skarek, Mersch

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After a very active free agent period that saw them bring in several veterans in an effort to become more competitive next season, it appears as if the Blackhawks are finished with trying to land at the bottom of the standings.  Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times suggests that they’re taking a risk in doing so since they haven’t landed a second high-end forward prospect to partner up with Connor Bedard down the road.  Chicago has ample defensive depth and some quality goalie prospects but among their forward prospects, there aren’t any who project as high-end top-line talent (someone like Frank Nazar could get there in time but the safer planning would be with him in a second-line role).  Having said that, the Blackhawks will have ample cap space moving forward so if they don’t draft a running mate for Bedard, they could try to land one in free agency down the road.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Former Sharks GM Doug Wilson acknowledged to Sheng Peng of NBC Sports Bay Area that he made a mistake in not retaining Joe Pavelski back in 2019. The veteran forward was coming off a strong year that saw him put up 38 goals but he had dealt with injuries the two years before that while they also committed big money to retain Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson, not leaving enough for them to pay market value for Pavelski’s services.  He went on to play five seasons in Dallas before calling it a career earlier this offseason.
  • Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News assesses the goaltending depth of the Islanders and suggests that Jakub Skarek’s time with the organization could be coming to an end. Marcus Hogberg is expected to serve as the starter with AHL Bridgeport while Henrik Tikkanen greatly outperformed Skarek last season and should serve as Hogberg’s backup.  Skarek has one year left on his deal so it’s possible that New York will look to flip the 24-year-old to a team looking for extra goalie depth.  If that fails, Rosner wonders if the two sides would consider a mutual contract termination which would allow him to try to catch on overseas.
  • Veteran free agent winger Michael Mersch is considering retirement, relays Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. The 31-year-old had been a staple for Buffalo’s AHL team in Rochester the past four seasons and is coming off a 15-goal, 38-point showing in 66 games in 2023-24.  Mersch has 17 career NHL appearances under his belt, all with Los Angeles back in the 2015-16 campaign.

Evening Notes: Utica, Marchenko, Pavelski

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The Utica Comets have signed defenseman Will MacKinnon and goaltender Jeremy Brodeur to one-year, one-way AHL contracts. MacKinnon has spent the bulk of his three professional seasons in the ECHL but dressed in 40 AHL games last season with the Comets, posting three goals, three assists, and a +7 rating. The 24-year-old is the son of Comets general manager Dan MacKinnon, who is also the assistant general manager of the New Jersey Devils.

Brodeur has dressed in just five AHL games across his seven-year professional career and played in one AHL game last season. He has never won an AHL game, but the 27-year-old did have a career year last year in the ECHL going 18-9-3 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average. The son of NHL Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur might not see a lot of AHL time as the Comets have goaltenders Isaac Poulter and Nico Daws ahead of him on the depth chart.

In other evening notes:

  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that the Columbus Blue Jackets and forward Kirill Marchenko will go to arbitration on July 31st. It was reported earlier this week that the Jackets and the 23-year-old had discussed both a short-term and long-term contract, but at this point, it appears likely that Marchenko’s next deal could be decided by an intermediary. The 2018 second-round pick has 44 goals and 23 assists in 137 NHL games over two seasons and was reportedly looking for a long-term deal this summer.
  • Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that recently retired Joe Pavelski spoke with the San Jose Sharks about a potential return to the organization where he spent the first 13 years of his NHL career. The 40-year-old played 963 games for the Sharks before departing in free agency to join the Dallas Stars in July 2019. Pavelski played five seasons in Dallas and ultimately never won a Stanley Cup during his playing career, although he was a big-time playoff performer during runs to the Stanley Cup Final with San Jose and Dallas.

Joe Pavelski Confirms Retirement

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Forward Joe Pavelski will indeed be retiring, he told Sirius XM’s Scott Laughlin today. He told reporters after the Stars were eliminated from the playoffs in early June that he expected 2023-24 to be his final season. The league has confirmed Pavelski’s retirement.

Pavelski, who turned 40 last week, has spent nearly a decade as one of the league’s most consistent two-way forwards and best net-front tippers while producing well above expected in his later years. After departing his longtime home with the Sharks for the Stars in free agency in 2019, many expected him to enter a decline, but he instead played a top-line role on a club that’s reached three Western Conference Finals in the last five years.

He finally showed signs of slowing down last year, though. His 67 points in 82 games, while still top-six-caliber, was his worst per-game production since his first season in Dallas. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he’d been bumped down to second-line duties alongside Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment, and the normally clutch postseason performer struggled to produce with only a goal and three assists in 19 games. Still, he ended his career on a rather high note, checking in as one of the better UFAs available on this summer’s market. Instead, he’s hanging up his skates.

Pavelski’s rise to stardom was quite unexpected after waiting until the seventh round to hear his name called by San Jose in the now-fabled 2003 draft. After a two-year run at the University of Wisconsin that resulted in him producing well over a point per game and winning a national championship, Pavelski signed his entry-level contract and turned pro during the 2006 offseason.

He started the season in the minors, but after racking up 26 points in 16 games with AHL Worcester, he was off to the big leagues without ever looking back. He hit the ground running with 14 goals and 28 points in 46 games with the Sharks to close the campaign, and he soon was firmly entrenched in a middle-six role on one of the best forward groups of the time. He was a crucial secondary scoring presence through most of his 20s, racking up 150 goals and 336 points in 479 games over his first seven campaigns while receiving outside Selke Trophy consideration annually.

Entering the final season of his contract, the Sharks inked him to a five-year, $30MM extension to keep him from reaching UFA status the following summer. He responded with a career-high 41 goals, totaling 79 points and placing top 10 in both Hart and Selke Trophy voting. Hockey Reference attributed 11.5 standings points to Pavelski’s play that season, finishing fourth among skaters behind Sidney Crosby and future teammates Corey Perry and Tyler Seguin.

Pavelski produced similarly the following two seasons, putting together a multi-year iron-man streak while routinely tossing up over 70 points. His 11 game-winning goals in 2015-16 led the league before embarking on a spectacular playoff run, posting a league-leading 14 goals in 24 playoff games – four of which were GWGs – as San Jose advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. Pavelski and the Sharks were usurped by the Penguins in six games, however, the closest he would come to winning it all.

That was also his first season as Sharks captain, a title he’d hold until departing for Texas. He remained an effective top-six presence in his final years in the Bay, although not quite as dominant as his early-2010s play. He gave the Sharks 89 goals, 109 assists and 198 points in 238 games over his final three seasons before a cap crunch helped usher him out the door in the summer of 2019 when his extension expired, inking a three-year, $21MM deal with Dallas.

In his first season with the Stars, it looked like an ill-advised deal. He looked like he’d lost a step, averaging around two minutes per game fewer than his last year in San Jose, and his 31 points in 67 games was the worst production of his career on a per-game basis. But after the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season early, Pavelski returned with a vengeance in the bubble playoffs, rediscovering his form with 13 goals (a league-leading 10 at even strength) in 27 contests as the Stars upset their way to the Stanley Cup Final. Just like he had with San Jose in 2016, though, Dallas fell to the Lightning in a six-game Final.

It was a precursor of things to come for Pavelski in Dallas. Upgraded to a new-look first line with rookie Jason Robertson and third-year center Roope Hintz for the 2020-21 season, he racked up 25 goals and 51 points in the shortened 56-game campaign. The Stars missed the playoffs, but they’d be back the following year on the heels of a career-best 81 points (27 goals, 54 assists) from “Captain America” as he continued to gel seamlessly with Hintz and Robertson, playing a pivotal role in their development. He continued to hover north of 0.8 points per game, tossing up 77 and 67 points in his final two campaigns as he helped pass the torch to Dallas’ young talent, losing to the Golden Knights and Oilers in back-to-back Conference Finals.

He now retires having played 1,332 regular-season and another 201 playoff games over 18 seasons. Playing on some of the best two-way lines in the league throughout his career, he logged a career +201 rating that’s tied for 42nd all-time among forwards. He tallied 1,068 points (476 goals, 592 assists) while compiling 458 PIMs, 75 game-winning goals, and a remarkable 54.5 CF% while averaging 18:34 per game. His estimated career earnings neared $81MM, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR salute Pavelski for an exceptional career that’s sure to earn him Hall of Fame consideration.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Central Notes: Predators, Drouin, Pavelski, McGroarty

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Nearly one year ago, the Nashville Predators made some surprise additions in free agency by bringing in veteran forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist on multi-year contracts. Expect much of the same from the Predators organization this summer as Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports Nashville is looking to be aggressive once free agency opens up on Monday.

Lavoie specifically cites Steven Stamkos as a player that the Predators will take a run at — a rumor that has been picking up some steam over recent days. With just over $26MM in cap space and only a few notable pieces to retain, Nashville could do some damage on the free-agent market this summer.

Outside of Stamkos, the Predators will likely be checking in on multiple free agents over the next few days as the team could use additional help in the form of a top-six forward and top-four defenseman. Thankfully, the team captain, Roman Josi, can still be counted on for the most minutes on Nashville’s blue line but the team could certainly use some help behind him in the form of a veteran talent to lessen the burden.

Other Central notes:

  • Despite both parties’ willingness to agree on a contract extension, the cap situation for the Colorado Avalanche may be pushing Jonathan Drouin out the door (Article Link). For the second summer in a row, the Avalanche are scrambling to sign cheap depth at every position with the team only carrying $10.47MM in cap space into the summer months. Without factoring in the potential return of forward Valeri Nichushkin and his $6.125MM salary, it appears improbable that Colorado will be able to retain Drouin. After only playing on an $825K salary for the 2023-24 NHL season, Drouin has earned a considerable raise after scoring 19 goals and 56 points in 79 games.
  • If everything is to go as expected, Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars has already played his last game in the National Hockey League. He will not have to wait long for a job offer though as Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside reports the Stars organization is more than willing to give Pavelski an opportunity in the front office if he officially decides to retire. It would not be surprising to see Pavelski land a front-office job after his playing career officially concludes, as the veteran star has largely operated in a leadership role throughout his professional career as a player.
  • After nearly a week of trade chatter, the Winnipeg Jets could not find an optimal trade to move prospect Rutger McGroarty out of the system during draft weekend. Looking for updates on the matter, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press could only confirm that McGroarty would not be present at the Jets’ development camp this summer. Due to McGroarty not being eligible for unrestricted free agency for another two seasons, Winnipeg can be patient when it comes to moving his contract rights.

Joe Pavelski Expected To Retire

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Speaking to members of the Dallas Stars in their end-of-season media availability, radio host of the Stars, Owen Newkirk, reports that Joe Pavelski is likely done with his career in the National Hockey League. Although Pavelski was adamant that it was not an official announcement of retiring, he mentioned that he had expected this to be his last season.

If Pavelski has ultimately played his last game, it will mark the end of a career that spanned almost two decades. Drafted in the seventh round of the ever-famous 2003 NHL Draft, Pavelski has not only beat the odds of making it to the NHL but will now be regarded as one of the most consistent American-born players in league history.

One of the major reasons Pavelski was able to procure such lasting power in the NHL is his hand-eye coordination. With most current All-Stars combining elite skill and speed, Pavelski never brought the same kind of mobility as the rest of his peers and instead became a menace in front of the opposing team’s nets.

For the first 13 years of his career, Pavelski became a staple of the San Jose Sharks organization, missing the playoffs in only one season. Pavelski played in 963 games for the Sharks, scoring 355 goals and 761 points, with 121 of those goals coming on an elite powerplay. Finishing the last four years of his tenure in San Jose as the team’s captain, Pavelski also helped the team to four division titles, four Conference Finals appearances, one President’s Trophy, and one appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

With the Sharks entering a rebuilding phase towards the end of Pavelski’s career with the organization, he left for greener pastures in the 2019-20 offseason. Over the summer, Pavelski signed a three-year, $21MM contract with the Stars, marking an end to his tenure in San Jose.

If anything, Pavelski almost became a more effective player in Dallas, scoring on a nearly point-per-game pace from his age 35 to age 39 season. Pavelski added another 121 goals and 307 points to his career totals while playing 369 regular season games in the Lone Star State.

During his first year with the Stars organization, Pavelski would get another crack at the Stanley Cup, this time losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite scoring 74 goals and 143 points in 201 combined postseason games with the Sharks and the Stars, Pavelski was unable to capture the elusive trophy throughout his career.

If this is indeed the end for Pavelski, he will have finished his 18-year career with 1,332 games played while scoring 476 goals and 1,068 points. Compared to other American-born players throughout league history, Pavelski would finish his career seventh in games played, sixth in goals, 12th in assists, and sixth in points.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Dallas Stars.

Who are the Stars thankful for?

Joe Pavelski

There were a number of different ways that we could have gone here, but it is hard to dismiss the agelessness of 39-year-old Joe Pavelski.

Many pundits thought the Dallas Stars had made a big miscalculation back in July 2019 when the club signed a then 34-year-old Pavelski to a three-year $21MM contract just ten days before his 35th birthday. And one season into the deal, it sure looked like the pundits were right. Pavelski looked lost and tired as he suffered through one of the worst seasons of his NHL career. But since that first year, he has registered 91 goals and 142 assists in 242 games.

Now part of those numbers are because Pavelski is playing fewer minutes than his career average, and he is also playing with very skilled teammates, but it is hard to discount all the intangibles Pavelski has brought to the Stars dressing room on top of being a bonafide top-6 forward. Pavelski hasn’t had to sacrifice any of his attention to detail when it comes to his defensive responsibilities and continues to remain in the conversation when it comes to Selke Trophy considerations year after year. All of this in his 18th NHL season, while he continues to play under a very team-friendly cap hit making just $3.5MM this season (plus $2MM in bonuses).

Pavelski might not be the biggest star in Dallas, but his reliability at both ends of the ice, and his ability to make everyone around him better continue to impress as he pushes towards his 40th birthday.

What are the Stars thankful for?

Their scouting staff.

Very few teams have hit on late first-round picks and second-round picks the way the Dallas Stars have over the last decade. The Stars were fortunate to pick the likes of Miro Heiskanen third overall. But most of their depth was built off smart picks later in the draft. All-star goaltender Jake Oettinger was a late first-round pick 26th overall in the 2017 NHL entry draft, Jason Robertson was selected 13 spots later at 39th overall and has emerged as a top-flight offensive talent. Roope Hintz was a late second-round pick in the 2015 draft while Wyatt Johnston was selected 23rd overall in 2021. The list goes on and it goes to show just how Dallas has built a team that can contend year in and year out.

The stars currently boast some of the best depth in the NHL evidenced by Johnston centering a third line that features Jamie Benn. They haven’t just hit on draft picks as they’ve also been able to make smart free-agent signings (see Pavelski above) and craft trades along the way. The scouts in Dallas at both the amateur and pro level have done a commendable job identifying available talent that other NHL clubs are undervaluing.

What would the Stars be even more thankful for?

Ryan Suter dialing it back.

At 39 years old it is unlikely that Ryan Suter is going to find another gear suddenly. The 11-time all-star defenseman has seen his offensive game fall into a decline since 2020, while his defensive game has been slipping away since 2015. Suter was once considered one of the top two-way defensemen in the NHL, but time has caught up to the Madison, Wisconsin native.

In Dallas, Suter has been thrust into a role that is probably outside of his current skillset as he has played significant minutes with Miro Heiskanen. Suter is averaging over 20 minutes a night, and while that is a steep decline from last season, it is still a rather large number for one of the oldest defensemen in the NHL.

The drop-in ice time has mostly come from Suter being removed from the Stars’ power play. With his speed and footwork in decline, the Stars have made the call to primarily use Suter at even strength on their top pairing. The good news for Suter is that he is partnered up with Heiskanen and can benefit from the youngster’s strong skillset. Suter hasn’t been terrible this year and has mostly been fine, but given the Stars’ Stanley Cup aspirations, it will be important that Suter finds another gear, or the Stars look for someone who can better log Suter’s minutes and perhaps bump him down the depth chart.

What should be on the Stars holiday wish list?

A defenseman.

As mentioned above, Suter could probably benefit from a more sheltered role in the Stars’ defense core. Esa Lindell could also use some help as well as he too has had his struggles. All this points to the Stars needing to shop for another defender.

Dallas is in the fortunate position to have a decent farm system from which they could trade, and also have some young roster players that could entice teams to part with a defenseman. Although I would avoid trading Johnston if possible.

The Stars could benefit from a right-side defenseman, and while it wouldn’t improve Suter’s position on the depth chart, it would allow Jani Hakanpää to slide down into the bottom pairing. Hakanpää has had a rough start to the season and would likely welcome some sheltered minutes on a 5-6 pairing.

If Dallas opts to trade for right-shot defensemen there will certainly be options available to them. Tyson Barrie of the Nashville Predators is out there, as is Chris Tanev of the Calgary Flames. If the Stars wanted to be bolder, they could take a run at Noah Hanifin as he would slot in beautifully on their top pair next to Heiskanen.

Cap space will be an issue for the Stars, but as we inch closer and closer to the trade deadline it will become less of an issue. Dallas is on the cusp of breaking through in the playoffs and one more defenseman could be just the thing that gets them over the hump and back to the Stanley Cup finals.

West Notes: Pavelski, Golden Knights, Killorn, Kahkonen

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On January 1st of this year, the Dallas Stars inked veteran forward, Joe Pavelski, to a one-year contract worth a total of $3.5MM. A notable decrease on the $7MM annually that Pavelski was earning in his first contract with Dallas, this new deal did include two performance bonuses worth a total of $1MM each.

Per CapFriendly, when Pavelski plays in his 10th game of the year, he will earn the first bonus, and he will earn the second bonus at 20 games played. Tonight, the Stars will take on the Vancouver Canucks, and if no lineup changes are made, Pavelski would be in line to secure the first $1MM performance bonus included in his contract.

Although typically a minor detail on most contracts, given that Dallas only has approximately $457K in cap space, this performance bonus earned by Pavelski will result in an overage penalty to the Stars, which will be applied to next year’s salary cap bottom line. Also, given his health and availability over the last three seasons with the Stars, the expectation is that Pavelski will make it to 20 games played, adding even more overage penalties to the Dallas organization next year.

Other notes:

  • Before tonight’s heavily anticipated Western Conference matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights, Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that forward William Carrier would be a game-time decision for Vegas, and that defenseman Zach Whitecloud will be out for the remainder of the weekend. Placed on LTIR at the beginning of the season, Whitecloud has been dealing with an upper-body injury suffered during this year’s preseason but has returned to practice with the team over the last couple of days.
  • Looking to make his debut with the Anaheim Ducks after signing a four-year, $25MM contract with the team this summer, Eric Stephens of The Athletic is reporting that Alex Killorn was seen practicing on a line with Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg, and will likely make his Ducks debut tomorrow night against the Golden Knights. In his absence, Anaheim has gotten off to a better start than most would have expected, climbing up in the standings thanks to a current five-game winning streak.
  • As hinted at in last night’s recall of goaltender Magnus Chrona, Sheng Peng of NBC Sports is reporting that San Jose Sharks’ netminder, Kaapo Kahkonen is out with an upper-body injury, and is considered day-to-day. Although Chrona is only in his first year with an NHL organization, San Jose could benefit from another option in the crease, as both of their regular goaltenders have failed to hold a SV% above .900 in the team’s first 10 games of the season.

Evgenii Dadonov To Miss Game 5

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Tracey Myers of NHL.com tweeted this afternoon that Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told the media this afternoon that forward Evgenii Dadonov will miss Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. DeBoer didn’t rule the 34-year-old out of the playoffs entirely but did go on to say that his injury is more than a day-to-day injury.

Dadonov, who missed Game 4 with the injury, saw a resurgence with the Stars after coming over just before the trade deadline from the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been playing at a level not seen since 2017-2020 with the Florida Panthers, putting up four goals and six assists in 16 playoff games with Dallas.

The injury must be frustrating for Dadonov on a number of fronts. The winger was finally finding his footing after struggling to find a home for the past three seasons. Dadonov also likely has an axe to grind with Vegas after he was traded without his permission at last year’s trade deadline, only to have the trade reversed when it was discovered that the Anaheim Ducks were on his no-trade list. He was then dealt by Vegas to the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber in June 2022. Dadonov struggled to start the season in Montreal, putting up just 18 points in 50 games before finding his current home in Dallas.

The Stars staved off elimination last night on an overtime goal from Joe Pavelski, they will need a lot more of that magic if they are going to have any chance of coming back against the Golden Knights, as they still trail in the series by a score of 3-1. They will have to do so in the absence of Dadonov, who has been one of their more consistent scorers in the playoffs.

Joe Pavelski Practices; Will Travel With Club

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The Dallas Stars have a chance to close out their first-round series tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild, and could have some added firepower in the lineup.

Joe Pavelski participated in practice today and will travel with the team. Head coach Pete DeBoer told Saad Yousuf of The Athletic that the team would “see tomorrow morning” if he’s a full-go.

Pavelski hasn’t played since taking a hard hit from Matt Dumba in game one, though the team has done rather well in his absence. Even without one of their most dangerous offensive players, Dallas has outscored Minnesota 17-13 in the series. Still, there’s little doubt they would have the veteran leader in the lineup if they could.

Set to turn 39 this summer, Pavelski is still playing at an incredibly high level. With 28 goals and 77 points in the regular season, he trailed only Jason Robertson and Jamie Benn for the team lead. His continued excellence is a big reason why the Stars were seen by many as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender when the playoffs began. His return should help them as they try to hold off any Minnesota comeback over the next few nights.

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