[6] After the Olympics, Pavelich, who was not drafted by an NHL team, played one season for HC Lugano in Switzerland where he registered 73 points.

He was brought back to the United States the following year by his former U.S. Olympic coaches Herb Brooks and Craig Patrick, who managed the New York Rangers.

However, his career in New York was ended by a feud with Brooks' successor Ted Sator, who introduced a traditional North American dump-and-chase style of play.

However, he did record an assist on the Sharks' first-ever goal scored by Craig Coxe in the third period of a 4–3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on October 4, 1991.

On February 23, 1983, Pavelich became the first American to score five goals in a single game, against the Hartford Whalers at Madison Square Garden.

His second wife Kara died at age 44 in a fall that authorities deemed accidental from a second-story balcony at their Lutsen, Minnesota, home on September 6, 2012.

[20] Pavelich's sister, Jean Gevik, stated that she believed he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and had noticed behavioral changes in the years leading up to the incident which led to his arrest.

Koch played junior hockey for the Delta Ice Hawks in his native Canada before concussions ended his career.