Joe Pavelski still cheers for the Sharks. Could he return to the organization someday?
SAN JOSE — Joe Pavelski didn’t hesitate when asked if he would like to participate in the Sharks’ celebration this weekend of longtime former teammate Joe Thornton, and he was hit with a flood of memories when he returned to San Jose earlier this week.
“This is awesome. It really is,” Pavelski said Friday of being in San Jose to see Thornton’s No. 19 raised into the rafters at SAP Center on Saturday. “Flying in the other day, and then getting here and being here for a day or two, and seeing all the faces, you forget how much you miss it, and miss the place and miss the people. It’s fun.”
Perhaps now it’s a question of whether Pavelski, who was one of 35 or so former Sharks to play in the team’s alumni game Friday at Tech CU Arena, might one day consider returning to the team in some capacity.
The recently retired Pavelski, 40, said in July that he had conversations with Sharks general manager Mike Grier about a possible return to the team’s lineup. That didn’t happen, of course, but the door appears open for Pavelski to return to the organization — well down the line — in some fashion.
Pavelski said he’s not rushing into anything with any NHL team right now, and the Sharks are willing to let him enjoy his post-retirement life. Pavelski played the first 13 years of his NHL career with the Sharks, followed by five seasons with the Dallas Stars.
“I like the game. We talk,” Pavelski said Friday when asked about returning to the Sharks. “Dallas, there’s been a few teams that call and always offer something. But these first few years, it’s going to be all about the family, being around, and taking a step back a little bit.”
The Sharks have several alumni in their front office, including assistant general manager Ryane Clowe, director of goaltending Evgeni Nabokov, and development coaches Patrick Marleau, Tommy Wingels, and Mike Ricci.
“If there’s conversations to be had, then they’ll happen,” said Pavelski, who captained the Sharks from 2015 to 2019. “But no strings attached right now. Not too worried about that.”
Pavelski’s last NHL game was on June 2, when the Stars lost 2-1 to the Edmonton Oilers in a series-clinching Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. Pavelski hinted at his retirement shortly after the series ended and made it official in mid-July.
Pavelski said he’s “skated once or twice with the beer leagues” since his retirement, but still watches the Sharks, who enter Saturday’s game with the Buffalo Sabres with a 6-11-5 record after their 3-2 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. San Jose has gone 6-4-3 since a 0-7-2 start.
While promising young forward Will Smith was given a development day Thursday, fellow rookie Macklin Celebrini assisted on both of Alexander Wennberg’s goals and now had seven points in 10 games this season.
“Very exciting team. Young, obviously, and it’s good to see them kind of get going now and play,” Pavelski said of the Sharks. “You’ve got some of those young kids you’re watching, and you’re cheering for them.
“You’ve been a part of it. You always feel it. It’s a great organization. You want to see them keep having that success and keep growing.”
Pavelski said he missed playing a more significant part in Patrick Marleau’s No. 12 jersey retirement ceremony in Feb. 2023. Pavelski was midway through his fourth season with the Stars and could not be in San Jose.
Still, Pavelski quickly credited Marleau and Thornton for helping him become a better player.
“When you look back to then, you don’t realize how fortunate you are as a young kid to come into the locker room you did with the people, the characters and just how much fun we had and how much you can learn,” said Pavelski, who was 22 when he made his Sharks debut in Nov. 2006.
“It was definitely a huge building block for me. Coming in there and being around these guys was awesome.”
MARLEAU ON THORNTON: The only other player more synonymous with the Sharks than Thornton is Marleau, who, of course, is delighted that his former teammate’s number will be beside his inside the Shark Tank.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s going to be great to be able to look up in the rafters and see a 12 and a 19 side by side,” Marleau said Friday. “It’s going to be really special.”
Thornton and Marleau were taken first and second overall, respectively, in the 1997 NHL Draft in Pittsburgh. Thornton went to the Boston Bruins, and Marleau to the Sharks.
They became teammates on November 30, 2005, when the Sharks acquired Thornton from the Bruins for forwards Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau, and defenseman Brad Stuart.
“When you’re 18 and getting drafted, you don’t think something like that’s going to happen,” Marleau said of having a number retired in the NHL. “But when that trade happened, and he came here, it was just unbelievable. I was so excited to have him here.
“But now that both our numbers are going up and they’re going to be there side by side, that’s something pretty special. And I’m very honored to look up there and see his number with mine.”