Pavelski Talks Maple Leafs Head Coach Job, Excitement Back at Shark Tank, Best Golfers in Hockey

Joe Pavelski joked that he’ll have to golf less if he gets the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach job.

“I just heard Coach [Mike Macdonald] say you don’t get to play as much golf when you’re a coach, so we’ll have to take that into consideration,” the defending American Century Championship champ, doing a media availability with NBA star Kyle Lowry, Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh, and Seattle Seahawks head coach MacDonald, quipped.

The celebrity golf tournament begins in South Lake Tahoe on July 8.

Of course, the San Jose Sharks legend would be thrilled to be tapped to be the Leafs head coach.

Pavelski spoke on what intrigues him about coaching, how discussions with the Maple Leafs have been going, helping get ex-San Jose Sharks teammate Tomas Hertl out of his playoff slump, and the excitement back at the Shark Tank.

Joe Pavelski, on any current NHL’ers coming for his title as best golfer in hockey:

Yeah, there’s a few guys out there that are playing good. I hear that [Clayton] Keller in Utah’s pretty good. I play with Nick Schmaltz back home a decent amount, and we kind of go back and forth a little bit.

Until they get into one of these tournaments, I guess you don’t know how good they are, and how they react to tournament golf.

Those two guys I know of, and there’s definitely a few more, I’m sure someone’s coming.

Pavelski, on interviewing for the Maple Leafs head coach job:

Well, I just heard Coach [Mike Macdonald] say you don’t get to play as much golf when you’re a coach, so we’ll have to take that into consideration. (laughs)

But there is truth to that stuff. We have had discussions there, obviously. Their process, they’re going through many options and stuff, but it’s been very interesting and intriguing in a lot of ways, and I’m excited to go through the process and kind of see where it leads.

Pavelski, on the San Jose Sharks’ resurgent season:

Yeah, you’re definitely excited about that young core that’s coming up right now, led by [Macklin Celebrini]. [Mike Grier] has done a great job, one of my teammates, the GM there now is building it and doing it the right way.

I was a fan, just like all the other Sharks fans, as far as watching that playoff race and having them try to get in, and the most important part, the most exciting part is the fans are back. The Shark Tank is going again.

That was kind of the common term you heard, is like the atmosphere in there right now, just trying to make the playoffs, and the excitement that’s in that building again is special. It’s great to see that they’re there, and we would love to see them take the next step and get in the playoffs and start making noise again.

Pavelski, on what intrigues him about coaching:

What intrigues me about coaching? Well, I’ve coached the boy’s team, for what that is — they were 14-year and 15-year-old players.

I’ve been done playing for two years now, and I think if you ask athletes, when someone checks in, they’re like how’s the transition been? It’s been really good. And why has it been going good?

One, I like my hobbies, [this so-called] fake golf career, but the celebrity tours come out and they get your attention, so you get to compete and get to feel that. And then I have the boys team, they’re old enough where you do some real things with them, and you can kind of get mad at them, or you can get mad at the other team a little bit, and you can try to win a game, so the competitive juices are there in that way.

I think it’s actually added a ton to my transition, as I’m around the game and around some kids. It’s probably in its purest form, as far as they show up to the rink, if they’ve had a bad day, it’s because of school or something like that, they’re excited to be at the rink and they work hard and they have fun with each other.

I do like the coaching side. I’ve always thought the game well. It was a strength of mine when I played. When the opportunity kind of came on this one to explore it more, it was something I definitely wanted to entertain, and that’s where kind of the discussions have led.

Pavelski, on Tomas Hertl giving him credit for snapping Hertl’s scoring slump:

The satisfying part is like when he scored that next game is seeing the smile on his face, because he cares as much as anyone, and he’s as fun to be around as anyone. So, to see him have success, he did that, that’s always in there.

I was surprised when I heard it had been 29 games. I knew he wasn’t having a ton of success at the moment, but I didn’t realize it was like that.

As a teammate, he was on one of my favorite lines. I have a few favorite lines I played with, but Jumbo and Hertl that year we went to the Final, was one of your favorite ones. So, you’ve gone through a bunch of battles, you know what he can do, you maybe see a couple little things, and it was just a simple call to remind him kind of what he can do, a couple areas he could get better at.

For him to go out and kind of snap out of it, it’s fun to see the press, and he talked about it, but it was something that he went out and did and earned, and there’s nothing that you can really take credit for. He’s playing in a big opportunity, and to have him see success right now, and on the big stage, like he’s in, you definitely cheer for him that way.

You got Logan Stankoven, that I’ve spent time with in Dallas, and you got Hertl. Logan’s scoring a ton of goals, I don’t want to talk to him because he’s scoring non-stop, so you can easily have a reverse effect, I guess, on someone. But Hertl, get him going, Joel Ward, you’re cheering for your teammates that mean a lot to you.

Pavelski, on discussions with the Maple Leafs:

We’ve had a couple of discussions. It’s a process, they’re [being] very thorough through it. They have a bunch of stuff on their end. You’re just being patient and figuring out things on your end, so there’s not a lot to talk about right now.

Pavelski, on what other coaching that he might do if the Maple Leafs job falls through:

Yeah, we’re working through things like that.

I’ve went in with the Badgers on a very volunteer kind of [basis], a check-in once a week, help be around those guys a little bit. There’s something, you could go as far as to stay local, doing something like that. Will still be around the boys team.

There’s a certain level of timing that comes into all this, and where my family’s at, and why do certain things work and not. It’s something we’re not rushing into. We’re looking through on our end very thoroughly, and we’ll see where it goes.