Ex-GM Wilson regrets letting Pavelski leave Sharks: ‘It was a mistake'

Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.

Doug Wilson wishes he’d bet on Joe Pavelski one more time.

On the occasion of Pavelski’s retirement last month, Wilson paid tribute to his 2003 seventh-round pick’s improbable career — Pavelski was the leading goal and point scorer of his draft class — and the ex-Sharks general manager also reflected on letting Captain America leave San Jose in free agency in 2019.

“We should have found a way to get it done,” Wilson told San Jose Hockey Now. “It was a mistake.”

The odds were stacked against Pavelski from the beginning, as 204 prospects were drafted ahead of him. He also was 5-foot-11 and not particularly fleet of foot. 

“If we're so smart, why did we wait until the seventh round to draft him?” Wilson said with a laugh.

But it was the Sharks — led by Wilson, director of scouting Tim Burke and area amateur scout Pat Funk — who took a chance on Pavelski at No. 205.

A few things, of many, made Pavelski particularly special in Wilson’s eyes.

“Honestly, it was probably watching him practice,” Wilson said. “This is unfair, but he reminded me of Stan Mikita in many ways. Stan was always curious about how to get better. Stan was so smart and was off the charts when it came to thinking the game. And everyday, Stan would do things, would try to get better, try to help me get better.”

Wilson was just 20 in 1977 when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks, who were led, in part, by fellow future Hall of Famer Mikita.

“So watching Pavs, the work that he would put in on little things,” Wilson said. “We all saw him deflecting pucks and positioning and the work he put into that. But the little details at both ends of the rink, [it] was incredible to see a player that young doing those things, and then getting into a game and doing it against the best players in the world. A lot of it is a combination of the heart that he had and what he had between his ears.”

Pavelski dominated in the USHL, NCAA and AHL, before the Sharks called him up in 2006-07. He was an impact player from the get-go, putting up 14 goals and 14 assists in just 46 games on a star-studded San Jose squad.

He’d also grown a couple of inches, but that’s not the primary reason why he was so hard to defend, especially on the inside.

“His knowledge of the game and how he thinks the game and his courage,” Wilson said. “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.

“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 thought the game at such a high level, coupled with the willingness to go to those areas.”

Pavelski scored 355 goals and recorded 406 assists in 13 seasons with the Sharks. He also was named captain in 2015 and led the Sharks to their first and only Stanley Cup Final that season. He made Team USA for the 2010 and 2014 Olympics and was named captain of the 2016 World Cup squad.

Pavelski — that rare late pick who became both a world-class player and leader — had a one-of-kind perspective in the locker room. 

“It's rare to find a guy that is so blue collar, that does all the little things and works harder than anybody else but also has the high-end ability to be connected to the star players, and he himself was a star,” Wilson said. “So, he could relate to anybody in your dressing room on your team.”

This brings us to the summer of 2019. 

Pavelski had enjoyed a 38-goal campaign but was 34 and coming off serious injuries over the last two seasons. The Sharks also were up against the salary cap, between re-signing Evander Kane for seven years and $49 million in 2018, and earmarking eight years and $92 million for Erik Karlsson. Both Kane and Karlsson were significantly younger than Pavelski.

Wilson, out of respect for Pavelski, didn’t want to divulge every detail about their negotiations that offseason. However, he did note a recent Athletic report that the Sharks offered their captain just two years and $10 million wasn’t accurate.

The Dallas Stars landed Pavelski on a three-year, $21 million contract and later extended him twice on one-year deals.

From the Sharks’ perspective, time and the history of age-related decline in the NHL wasn’t on the smaller, slower and banged-up Pavelski’s side.

“Sometimes, you can overanalyze things,” Wilson said. “But I as a GM, with my love for Pavs and realizing how special he was, I look back, I probably should have dismissed historical analysis of contracts for players that age and said screw it.”

Pavelski spent the last five years of his career proving the Sharks wrong, piling on 121 goals and 186 assists in Dallas. He also led the Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final and the 2023 and 2024 Western Conference finals.

“Joe Pavelski has done some things that I don't think anybody else in the game has done at that age,” Wilson said.

Case in point: Pavelski’s four-goal game in the 2023 playoffs against the Seattle Kraken. The then-38-year-old became the oldest player in NHL history to score four goals in a game — regular or postseason.

“I was the GM. I take full responsibility,” Wilson said. “I wish I'd just said, you know what, he is that aberration. He proved that he is.”

But maybe all’s well that ends well? 

Pavelski wasn’t likely to enjoy the same playoff success in San Jose after 2019, so joining a deeper Dallas squad might have been the best move for him. And the Sharks, in sore need of a rebuild, probably had to bottom out to acquire a potential franchise cornerstone such as 2024 No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini.

“Joe Pavelski is a player that we should be so proud of that we had the good fortune of getting him and having him as long as we did,” Wilson said. “Pav beat all the odds … getting drafted in the seventh round and playing at the level he did until he was 40.”

Wilson, by the way, told Pavelski all that last week: “I said, I tip my hat to you and am so amazed by everything that you've accomplished. It’s not surprising. I wish, in hindsight, we would have kept him.”

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast