As contract nears end, Pavelec reflects on disappointing season

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This article was published 11/04/2016 (3702 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ondrej Pavelec doesn’t need to be told his future is soon coming to a fork in the road.

The Winnipeg Jets number-one goalie was already looking ahead when he spoke to reporters Monday morning at the MTS Centre, two days after the team finished its regular season out of the playoffs and after a final meeting with team management.

Next season will be the final year of his five-year contract, signed in 2012.

“What I have focus on is the World Cup,” Pavelec said. He is one of three goaltenders already named by the Czech Republic for the September tournament. “Of course I know it’s a contract year and I haven’t been in that situation for four years. The World Cup is going to be a different situation for a lot of players. They have to start training earlier and then we’ll see. I don’t know if I’m going to play (games) in the World Cup or not. There are three NHL goalies going there and it’ll be a different situation for all of us.

“I don’t have experience at that.”

Pavelec is already trying to figure out in his head how to mix the World Cup with the need to bring his best to training camp, when the Jets will likely have three goaltenders under the microscope.

“You get to skip training camp so that’s a good part,” Pavelec said, smiling. “Training camp is not fun. You want to play the games. Exhibition games are tough to play. Again, maybe I could be the third goalie or the back-up goalie and I won’t play, I wouldn’t have a chance to play in the games and then I’m going to come here and play games right away. So I have to be ready, I have to figure out how to get ready (out of) that World Cup.

“The coaches haven’t decided yet. We’ll have to see how that’s going to go but I have to find a way to get ready for season.”

In the season just finished, Pavelec finished 13-13-3 with a goals-against average of 2.78 and a save percentage of .904.

The 28-year-old said he had no excuses for what happened in 2015-16.

“Disappointing season after we made the playoffs last year,” he said. “It’s a 100 per cent disappointing season that we’re in the situation that we didn’t want to be. And it’s disappointing for me that I didn’t play for three months; I was hurt for a long time.

“I was trying to get back and help the team but we didn’t make it. So we all have to take responsibility for that and try to be better next year.”

Pavelec was asked what went wrong.

“We had a lot of injuries,” he said. “It’s not an excuse. We had a young team, and had two or three injuries and that’s a big part of where we are right now. We weren’t able to win the close games (13-9-8 in one-goal decisions). A tie game in the third period, we were winning those games last year, especially the end of the year when the times mattered and when it was important.

“This year we couldn’t do it. We lost so many games on the road and in our division, it’s one of the toughest divisions. You lose three or four in a row, you’re putting yourself in a tough spot. We weren’t able to make the playoffs.

“We had what we deserved. You don’t make the playoffs by accident.”

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Did Pavelec see the Jets’ youth as a factor in the year?

“It could be,” he said. “You cannot buy experience. They are young guys. Our management wants to go this way, with young guys, they want to play them. The more games they’re going to play, the better players they’re going to be. But they need experience. They need to play tough games. We have a young lineup but we played a few good games. We could play against the best teams but we couldn’t do it on a daily basis.” Pavelec said the only thing on his mind is winning.

“One hundred per cent,” he said. “I want to win right now. I’m not the youngest guy. I’ve been here for five years. I’m going to be 29 in the summer. We made the playoffs for the first time last year and it was an unbelievable experience. I had never been part of it. It was so much fun. We lost 4-0 yeah, but  just to be part of the playoff hockey, it was great for me.

“When it came to the season, all of us, we were so excited to do it again. But we couldn’t do it.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca