Pellerin makes familiar switch to new team

Scott Pellerin has played for four NHL organizations in 16 months. But the 1992 Hobey Baker Award winner for the University of Maine can say he has certainly gained degrees in temperature in his last two in-season transactions.

He was traded by Minnesota to Carolina last season. Thursday, he was put on waivers by Boston, then pulled off waivers Saturday and traded to the Dallas Stars for Benoit Hogue.

“It was 60 degrees on Monday here. Some of the guys were going golfing,” said Pellerin, who made his Dallas debut in a 3-1 win in Minnesota on Sunday night.

He didn’t register a point but skated 15 shifts at left wing without the benefit of a practice with his new mates.

The lines were juggled throughout the game. He skated with several centers, including Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk.

“I blocked a shot off my toe and broke it. But that has happened twice before and I never missed a game. I had to laugh when that happened,” said Pellerin, who could qualify as the poster boy for Mayflower or Allied Van Lines.

“I was never so excited for a season to start in my life. I was really looking forward to having a good start in Boston and finishing my career there,” said Pellerin, who has a home with wife Jennifer, 21/2-year-old daughter Jordan and 6-month-old son Jacob in Windham, N.H.

“But that’s not the way things work out sometimes. Now I’m real excited about being part of the Dallas Stars,” said the 32-year-old Pellerin. “This is a great opportunity for me. I’m coming to a team that wants to win, has great leadership, and has a winning tradition. It’s a veteran team. I think I’ll fit in well here.”

Dallas will be his sixth organization.

He had a goal and five assists in 35 games for the Bruins but was hampered by an eye injury caused by a deflected slap shot.

That sidelined him for 10 days and will require him to wear a protective visor for the rest of his career.

“I lost my vision for a couple of hours. It was quite scary. But it has healed up well. I’m lucky it got me where it did. Another three-quarters of an inch the other way and it would have been disastrous,” said Pellerin.

He says he was a victim of a numbers game in Boston. The trade of holdout Jason Allison to Los Angeles for Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray added to an already deep talent pool.

The trade, the eye injury, and the return to the lineup of previously injured forwards resulted in diminished ice time and even a few games in which he didn’t dress.

One of those games was a 7-1 win over Florida on Dec. 28, two days after Pellerin set up Stumpel’s game-winner in a 3-2 win over Ottawa.

“That was very frustrating to me. I don’t know why Robbie [Bruins coach Robbie Ftorek] did that,” said Pellerin, who had signed a two-year contract for $1 million per year.

“But I don’t think Robbie had anything against me. He had a lot of players who were playing well and some injured guys had come back. It was more of a timing thing,” said Pellerin, who had a career-best 44 points in 77 regular season games for Minnesota and Carolina a year ago.

He said he still isn’t in “great game shape,” but he hopes to be soon.

“And it’s going to take some time to get my confidence back. When you haven’t been playing that much, it takes a while to get back to the confidence level you once had,” said Pellerin, who has 68 goals and 117 assists in 459 career games.

He understands he will have a wide-ranging role with the Stars and will kill penalties. He could be a checker or a scorer.

“I’m looking forward to working hard and getting back on track,” said Pellerin.

Larry Mahoney’s column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached at 1-800-310-8600, 990-8231 or by e-mail at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.