Joe Pavelski signed a one-year contract with the Dallas Stars on Friday. It has a base salary of $5.5 million and an additional $500,000 in performance-based incentives.
The 37-year-old forward is in the final season of a three-year, $21 million contract ($7 million average annual value) he signed with the Stars on July 1, 2019. He could have become an unrestricted free agent July 13.
“(Wife) Sarah, (son) Nate and I have loved the city of Dallas and the Stars organization since Day One,” Pavelski said. “We are very committed to winning here and have full belief in (owner) Tom Gaglardi and his family and (general manager) Jim Nill to give our group every resource in order to do so. We have a great dressing room, and it was important to me, and my family, to show that we are all-in.”
Pavelski has scored 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists) in 56 games this season, his 16th in the NHL, and leads the Stars in assists and points. He scored 20 goals for the 12th time in 14 seasons.
“In his three seasons here, Joe has proven to be one of the strongest, most respected voices in the dressing room, as well as being one of the most consistent performers on the ice,” Nill said. “He has played at an All-Star level this season, and by signing this deal now, it is a testament to what he sees in this organization and how this organization values what he brings day in and day out. He is a true professional, an incredible leader, and an example to everyone in our organization of what the standard is.”
Selected by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round (No. 205) of the 2003 NHL Draft, Pavelski has scored 902 points (416 goals, 486 assists) in 1,142 regular-season games for the Sharks and Stars, and 119 points (61 goals, 58 assists) in 161 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Pavelski signed with Dallas in 2019 after San Jose decided not to re-sign him.
“San Jose made a decision a while back, and we’ll see how this one looks,” Pavelski said at NHL All-Star media day in February regarding his future with the Stars. “But right now, you just try to take care of your own business and just enjoy playing and enjoy being around the guys, really make it more about the team than about yourself. Hockey has a good way of humbling you at times and a good way of repaying you when you do things the right way.”
Dallas (32-21-3) has won seven of its past 10 games and is one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
“I take big-time pride in it, and I want to keep playing,” Pavelski said. “I want to play at a high level, and I want my minutes, and I want the opportunity to be out there at the end of the game. That’s kind of what keeps you driving.”
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