SAN JOSE -- Joe Pavelski admits it's going to be awkward. There's no other way for him to feel as he returns to San Jose as a member of the Dallas Stars, months after his hopes to remain with the Sharks were dashed.
"I always had a feeling that something would probably work out. Until it didn't, I didn't have any reason to think it wouldn't," said Pavelski, the former San Jose captain who signed a three-year, $21-million deal with Dallas after the Sharks let him walk into free agency.
Pavelski, 35, was originally drafted by the Sharks in 2003 and played 963 games for San Jose from 2006-2019.