Sheng Peng
At first glance, it might be hard to believe that Joe Pavelski scored as many goals as he did.
Smaller, slower, and a seventh-round pick, Pavelski didn’t look the part of a future 400-goal scorer when the San Jose Sharks made him the 205th pick of the 2003 Draft.
And even though he tore through the USHL, NCAA, and AHL, the doubts persisted. For example, Pavelski was never a Hockey News pre-season top-10 Sharks prospect.
But 476 goals with the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars later, Pavelski retired last month as the 2003 Draft’s top goal and pointscorer.
What made Pavelski, for an athlete average-looking, so unstoppable?
As part of a summer tribute to the San Jose Sharks legend, San Jose Hockey Now reached out to Doug Wilson, Peter DeBoer, Todd McLellan, Brenden Dillon, and Jason Demers to answer that question.
SJHN also spoke with ex-Los Angeles Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi, who squared off against Pavelski in many memorable Sharks-Kings battles.
“The thing that I think people have to understand about Joe Pavelski, his tipping was all-world, maybe the best of all time, but his game was so much more than that,” DeBoer, who coached Pavelski from 2015 to 2019, said.
“Just a complete player”
To a man, no one that SJHN spoke with about Pavelski’s game focused just on his famous net front prowess.
That’s a testament to his 200-foot game.
“I know people focus on his lack of speed. I wouldn’t say he was fast. But I would say he’s quick,” McLellan, who coached Pavelski from 2008 to 2015, said. “What I mean by that is that the first two or three steps, the ability to escape or the mind to anticipate and get to a certain spot, know when to get there, he had that down as good as anybody in the game.”
Demers, who played with Pavelski from 2009 to 2014, boiled it down: “He would just go where the puck was going instead of reacting.”
“He was a guy that just seemed to have like eyes in the back of his head,” Scuderi, who battled Pavelski from 2009 to 2013 with the Kings, said. “He wasn’t the strongest guy or a burner as a skater. But his anticipation and feel for the game always put him one step ahead of what was going to happen.”
Pavelski was more than just a smart hockey player too.
“Great vision, he could set guys up as much as score goals. He had a physical element to his game that was really underappreciated. You couldn’t physically intimidate him. He was a really tough competitor on the puck, as hard and heavy on the puck as anybody in the league, particularly for his size. And in the faceoff circle,” DeBoer said. “He could do it all.”
“He was just a complete player,” McLellan said.
Pavelski was also a winning hockey player, just one of 23 players to play 200 or more playoff games.
“Never cheated for his offense ever. Never at the expense of defending or making the right play within the team game. That’s probably the most impressive thing,” DeBoer said. “His goal totals would probably be higher if he did cheat. But he didn’t, and that’s why he played as many playoff games as he did.”
Pavelski never won a Stanley Cup, but there isn’t anybody who would tell you that he wasn’t a winner.
Moves Like Datsyuk?
Scuderi came up with a perhaps surprising comp for his rival.
“A guy I think of sometimes might be a guy like Datsyuk. Not oversized, not powerful,” Scuderi offered. “[Datsyuk] had a little more shiftiness than Pavelski. I realize that part of the game wasn’t the same. But these guys made an impact in small areas.”
Detroit Red Wings great Pavel Datsyuk, nicknamed the Magic Man for his stickhandling and creativity, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024.
“There was always something that they did to set themselves up for the next play,” Scuderi said. “So whether they were two feet away or five feet away, you knew that they had something clicking in their head about what was going to happen next, and you had to make sure you had your tracks covered.”
And again, this wasn’t just in front of the net, this was all over the ice.
“When you break the game down, especially on offense, we all love the open-ice plays that we see on NHL Network every morning,” Scuderi said. “But both of these players could create things in very small spaces all of a sudden. I would describe it as those situations you’re on defense and you go, okay, we’re all in position, seems pretty good, and then all of a sudden, they could both hold the puck for that extra second, and then make a really nice touch play in space, and you’re like, oh no, we’re in a world of trouble now.”
McLellan, a Red Wings assistant coach from 2005 to 2008, couldn’t agree more.
“How I just described Joe Pavelski, to me, and I spent those three years in Detroit with Pavel, very much the same escape skills, knowing how to play in crowds, knowing what to do around the net, but also practicing those moments,” he said. “If Joe was one, Pavel was two, or Pavel was one, Joe was two, as far as doing those things. Very comparable.”
“A maddening guy to play against”
Of course, Pavelski’s bread and butter was in front of the net.
“He seemed to just get a stick on every single puck anywhere within his range,” Scuderi complained, a decade after the fact. “It was incredibly frustrating to play against [him], especially [being] the defensive guy who drew those assignments against top lines. He was a maddening guy to play against. You love those challenges, but you’re also like Jesus, what the hell else are we gonna do here?”
Obviously, Pavelski’s anticipation and hand-eye coordination and quickness in small areas were huge parts of the equation.
“It’s just an innate feel for the game, where [the puck is] going and when you should be there,” Scuderi said. “I can remember a couple of times that he got a touch on the puck, all you can think of, I guess I’m going to be on video [review] tomorrow. At the same time, you’re trying to defend yourself already, like, look what the hell else do you want me to do here? I’m literally in the right spot. I’m literally trying to do the right thing.”
Wilson, who drafted Pavelski in 2003 and was his GM until 2019, added, “He was fearless. He wasn’t the biggest guy or anything like that, but he would go to the certain areas anywhere on the ice, with or without the puck, win battles.”
Wilson, a former defenseman like Scuderi, saw most of Pavelski’s goals, 355 in teal.
“What he used to do in front of the net, with his ability to deflect pucks and get the proper positioning, was a combination of guts and courage and fortitude, but also brilliance with knowing how to separate and get away and the timing of things,” he said. “He thought the game at such a high level, coupled with the willingness to go to those areas.”
“A lot of players show up to practice…”
But none of Pavelski’s fabled career happens without his just-as-famous work ethic.
“He was as good a training player, and what I mean by that is practice, training for moments, practicing moments, understanding what he might need in his game, as I’ve been around,” McLellan said.
“A lot of players show up to practice, they’re great players, they show up to practice and they do the drills and whatever and they go home. Joe showed up to practice to get better,” McLellan explained. “And sometimes, if the practice didn’t present to him what he thought he needed in the game, he would think back to what he failed maybe in the game before and he would work on it.
“He knew what he would need against Dallas and what he might need against Los Angeles [or any opponent]. Not all players are wired that way.”
Brenden Dillon, Pavelski’s teammate from 2014 to 2019, also saw this up close: “He always worked on his game. Faceoffs. Tips. Net front plays and rebounds. Joe Pavelski knew what made him successful and he perfected that.”
“It was truly brilliant and an incredible career, that you look at it, and you marvel,” Wilson said. “You say don’t discount somebody because they might not be a great skater or smaller. He got everything out of his game.”