Under the same roof

Maybe the best move Pete DeBoer has made all season wasn't even on the ice.

The first-year bench boss for the Dallas Stars was presented with the challenge of coaching 19-year-old rookie Wyatt Johnston, who came straight from the Ontario Hockey League and had a lot to learn. DeBoer and GM Jim Nill came up with a plan to have Johnston live with veteran Joe Pavelski and his family, and things couldn't have gone better.

"It just made sense," said DeBoer, who coached 13 seasons in the OHL, where billet families are commonplace. "It's tough to be out on your own at that age, so getting Wyatt some support and guidance was pretty important."

He couldn't have found a better person than Pavelski to provide that support. DeBoer and Pavelski were in San Jose together and have a great relationship. At 38, Pavelski has seen it all, and with wife Sarah and 12-year-old son Nate, the household was perfect for support on and off the ice.

"Who do you pick to do that? For me, Pav was an easy one," DeBoer said. "One, what he represents as a person, a leader, a father, a husband, a role model. All those things. I don't think you could learn from a better guy on a day-to-day basis. Two, I knew Sarah Pavelski and their son Nate from my time in San Jose, so I knew the family, I knew how great a situation it could be, and it's turned out that way. I think it's been fantastic."

It's been more than great for a lot of reasons. One, Johnston has blossomed into one of the best rookies in the league. He was actually pretty average in the Traverse City (Mich.) prospect tournament and during preseason. The Stars had the nine-game window to try him out before they had to make a decision on whether or not they wanted to send him back to juniors. Even after the commitment was made to keep him for the year, DeBoer said he kept expecting Johnston would hit the rookie wall.

"Honestly, I was waiting for that to hit at the 10-game mark, 20-game mark, halfway through the season," DeBoer said. "Just never happened. He had a handful of off nights where his energy levels were a little bit low but very few and far between and nothing extended. He always fought his way back out of it very quickly. That's been the most impressive part."

Pavelski's a big reason for that. The smart forward has logged 1,250 regular season games and nearly 200 in the playoffs. He's pretty much seen it all. He provides a great example with his work ethic and preparation, but also with talks in the car or after games.

In the first game of the playoffs, Pavelski suffered a concussion and was out for five games. Johnston was there every day, watching the recovery and watching how Pavelski handled everything. Pavelski then came back and scored five goals in his first two games in the Seattle series.

"I'm just trying to do my best to learn from Joe," Johnston said. "To see [what he did] in those two games was pretty unbelievable. Just to see how much of an impact he makes. I'm just trying to learn from him and help do the same things he does."

Pavelski said he's been impressed with how Johnston assimilates information and how he has a knack for making good decisions on the ice.

"He's just a player that kind of keeps trying to learn and whether he's had a cold stretch or something, we talk about little things, how you get out of it," Pavelski said. "This year, I went through a cold spell. Not the first time that's happened, not going to be the last. You have to have some type of foundation to get yourself out of certain areas. He's been tremendous, wanting to learn and then going out and doing it."

Johnston finished tied for the rookie lead in goal scoring with 24 and added four more in the first two rounds of the playoffs. He had what would end up being the series winner in Game 7 against Seattle when he charged in from a hard angle and backhanded a shot in off the mask of Philip Grubauer. It was a play that made the entire bench appreciate Johnston just a little bit more.

"What a goal," DeBoer said. "It's not just a goal. It's hard to explain. I don't know how many players would think of doing that, never mind pull it off and score like that on that play. It's an elite, world class play by one of the youngest players in the league. I can't say enough about him. It seems the deeper we get, the more we rely on him and the more responsibility he wants."

It was a perfect example of how much Johnston has matured. A solid two-way center who led the OHL in scoring last season, he has become the Stars' "second line" center while both helping and learning from Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov.

"I don't think anyone predicted it would be as smooth as it is," DeBoer said. "I sure didn't predict he'd have the impact on our group that he has. He's a special player. There's no other explanation for it. He's one of those special guys who has come in at this age, into this league, and hasn't looked out of place, hasn't hit a wall, hasn't stumbled for more than a period or two at a time and has gotten better as the season's gone on. There are usually one or two guys a year who have the ability to do that, and we're fortunate he's one of those guys."

It's been a fantastic journey so far, with both Johnston and Pavelski benefitting from the pairing. And a lot of the credit for it has to go back to the original decision to put Johnston in Pavelski's house.

"They're an interesting pair," DeBoer said. "It's fun to watch because Wyatt is just starting his career and Joe has done everything but win a Cup. Joe understands the importance of the messaging and what he's teaching Wyatt. I think Wyatt is going to appreciate that down the road, probably a lot more than he does now. He's a pretty smart kid, but I think he's going to really get it probably 10 years from now when he looks back and goes, 'Wow, was I lucky to be in that situation with that guy.'"

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika