EXCLUSIVE: Stars’ top Veteran retires after 18 good years of…

Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski told reporters Tuesday that he intends to retire.

“This was it for me. It was known for a while, probably,” Pavelski said at the team’s exit interview day. “The plan is not to play next year.”

Pavelski clarified that his retirement was not yet official, but it’s his intention not to be back for what would be a 19th NHL season in 2024-25.

“We’re still moving back at some point here, decompressing and figuring all this stuff out and logistics and stuff,” Pavelski said. “… There will be more to come on that. Everything is still so raw, nothing official. There will be more words. I’m going to need a little bit of time to really put it together and figure it out that way. Most likely that was it, and couldn’t ask for a better opportunity and a better group of guys to be around.”

Pavelski will turn 40 in July and was one of the oldest players in the league this season.

 

Pavelski spent the first 13 seasons of his career with the San Jose Sharks and was their captain from 2015-19. He played in four NHL All-Star Games along with two Stanley Cup Finals, once with San Jose (2016) and once with Dallas (2020), though his teams lost in both cases.

Pavelski holds the NHL record for most playoff goals scored by a United States-born player, with 74 in 201 games.

In 1,332 career regular-season games, Pavelski tallied 1,068 points (476 goals, 592 assists).

Pavelski signed with the Stars as an unrestricted free agent in 2019. On Tuesday expressed gratitude for his time in Dallas, whose season ended with a six-game loss to Edmonton in the Western Conference finals.

“As athletes, you expect the best out of you,” Pavelski said. “You get to a certain level, felt like I was coming in from San Jose to here at an extremely high level, and I believed in that. … I still had a high expectation for my game, and I was glad to see it get back to that level and then sustain it. It wasn’t just all about me. I played with some great players and came into an organization that had good people and good talent. There was a strong support system around me that allowed me to do that as well.”