Joe Pavelski likely to be named Team USA captain for World Cup of Hockey: Report

There’s a good possibility San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski will be named the captain of Team USA for the World Cup of Hockey.

A source told CSN Bay Area that there is a “99 percent” chance that Pavelski, a Plover, Wisconsin native, will be chosen to wear the ‘C’ for the Americans.

In his first season as team captain Pavelski led the Sharks to the organization’s first Stanley Cup Final. Last year Pavelski led the Sharks with 38 goals in 82 games played. Pavelski has scored 31-or-more goals in every full season since the start of 2011-12. In the playoffs Pavelski scored 14 goals in 24 games played.

“I think it was somewhat of a success,” Pavelski said of his first year as Sharks captain in a recent interview with Puck Daddy. “Each year’s a little different you’ve got to find something a little different along the way. To be honest, the first year was a success in large part due to the guys. Everybody in the room was tremendous. It was such a joy coming to the rink and working with everybody, competing, getting out there. A lot of credit goes to those guys.”

CSN Bay Area pointed out that since 2008-09, only Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel have scored more points than Pavelski’s 495 amongst American born NHL players.

“He plays an honest game,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said of Pavelski’s leadership last season. “He’s worked for what he’s got. He wasn’t handed any jobs in the NHL. He’s earned the respect of everybody around him with how he plays and how he carries himself. There’s no … what you see is what you get with Joe and I think people appreciate that and people want to follow those types of leaders.”

At the 2014 Olympics, Zach Parise captained Team USA. Ryan Suter and Dustin Brown were named alternates. The Team USA braintrust is currently meeting in the Twin Cities area.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper