Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski said Tuesday that he will not play next season while adding, “this is it for me.”
While Pavelski did not outright say he was retiring from the NHL, he did tell reporters during the Stars’ exit interviews that he had known for a while that the 2023-24 season would probably be his final campaign.
Pavelski, who turns 40 in July, was the NHL’s second-oldest player this season behind Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano. He was in his fifth season with a Stars team that was one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, a trophy that had eluded Pavelski during his 18-year career.
A 2-1 loss Sunday to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference final ended the Stars’ season and was the start of questions about Pavelski’s future. Stars players such as captain Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Wyatt Johnston, who has lived with Pavelski and his family, were all emotional when answering questions about if this could have been Pavelski’s last game.
Pavelski, who was slated to be an unrestricted free agent, finished with five shots on goal while logging 16:50 of ice time in what appears to be his final game.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer, who previously coached Pavelski when they were with the San Jose Sharks, also addressed the reality that Game 6 may have been Pavelski’s last.
“I don’t know if it’ll be Joe’s last game or not, but it was an absolute privilege of my coaching career to coach a guy like that,” DeBoer said after Game 6. “Our young players are all better for having been around a guy like that.”
Pavelski told ESPN during the team’s second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche that he was “kind of living in the moment right now, but I’m not too worried about it” when he was asked about his future beyond this season.
Stars general manager Jim Nill also told ESPN during the second round that Pavelski didn’t want his future to be a distraction.
“He’s going to know,” Nill said. “There comes a time when your body, your mind — you just say it’s enough.”
A seventh-round pick by the Sharks in 2003, the Plover, Wisconsin, native would become both a future captain and one of the franchise’s all-time greats. He spent two seasons at the University of Wisconsin before embarking on a career that saw him finish with 476 goals and 1,068 points in 1,332 regular-season games while having 74 goals and 143 points in 201 playoff games.
Pavelski’s performances helped the Sharks remain one of the NHL’s long-term Stanley Cup contenders. The club reached four conference finals and one Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016 when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Sharks reached the conference final in 2019 when they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. That would be the Sharks’ most recent playoff appearance and it was also Pavelski’s last with the club.
He left the Sharks and signed a three-year contract with the Stars. Pavelski and the Stars reached the Stanley Cup Final in his first season when they ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Following a one-year hiatus, the Stars returned to the playoffs in 2021-22 but lost in the first round.
With veterans such as Benn, Pavelski and Seguin, the Stars were gradually supplementing that group with young homegrown talents such as Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Jake Oettinger and Johnston. It created a roster that saw the Stars reach the conference final in 2023. They lost to the Vegas Golden Knights but affirmed their place as a serious title challenger.
His time captaining the Sharks led to him joining an already established leadership group in Dallas. Pavelski’s role as a leader also allowed him to work with younger players such as Johnston and Logan Stankoven while providing an additional voice for teammates in need of support.
“He cares about our players. He cares about everyone and wants to see us succeed,” Jason Robertson told ESPN. “It definitely shows his character and his leadership. That’s something that will definitely follow him throughout his whole life.”
LEBANON, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski said RFK Racing has made some small changes and talked about the “complexities” and team burdens under the NASCAR rulebook after an appeal reduced a penalty given to driver Chris Buescher and his team at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski compared the NASCAR rulebook a bit to the IRS tax code during practice and qualifying Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400.
“You read this paper and then you got to reference this paper to reference this paper to reference this paper, and when your head’s down and digging and you’re running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen,” Keselowski said.
The co-owner of RFK Racing said that’s not an excuse. Keselowski said the team changed some roles and responsibilities this week to help the team be “better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to to be in compliance.”
NASCAR penalized Buescher and his team May 15 for illegal modifications to the bumper of his No. 17 Ford at Kansas. The team was docked 60 driver points, 60 owner points, five driver playoff points and five owner playoff points for the level one violation. It also fined the team $75,000 and suspended crew chief Scott Graves from the next two races: the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.
Those penalties came three days after Buescher finished eighth at Kansas and dropped him from 12th to 24th in the Cup Series point standings.
RFK Racing appealed and had a partial win Wednesday with the appeals panel ruling the team violated the rule on the front bumper cover but not the exhaust cover panel.
Buescher got back 30 points, moving him to 16th in the Cup Series points standing. That’s a slot below the playoff cutline and six points behind RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece.
SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.
Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.
“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”
Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.
“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”
Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.
It became their mother’s project after their deaths.
“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”
The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.
“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”
Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.
“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.
“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”
The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.
He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.
“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”
The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.
“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”
Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.
All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.
“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”
Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.
Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.
Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.