Washington Capitals of the 1980s: Dale Hunter, whatever it takes

Dale Hunter joined the Washington Capitals in 1987
and scored one of the biggest goals in franchise history.
Source: Mandatory Credit: Rick Stewart/Allsport
https://starsandsticks.com/
2020/09/11/washington-capitals-top-10-greatest-moments/8/
(May be subject to copyright)

He was talented, gritty, and mean, a player who led by example, scored clutch goals and did whatever he could to help his team win.

Dale Hunter would eventually rise to captain of the team and had some of his best years as a Washington Capital.

French fact
Dale Hunter started his NHL career with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980 and played there seven seasons. As a rookie in 1980-1981 he had 19 goals and 44 assists for 63 points. He also had 226 penalty minutes. That began a streak of six straight seasons where he had at least 63 points and 200-plus penalty minutes. He hit 20 goals four times and 70 points four times.

More than anything else, what I remember most about his time as a Nordique was how much of a thorn in the side of the Montreal Canadiens he was. The teams met in the playoffs in 1982, 1984, 1985, and 1987 while Hunter was there, with Quebec winning in 1982 and 1985. In fact, Hunter scored the game and series winning goal in overtime in the fifth and deciding game of their 1982 first-round series. There was also no shortage of physical play, and one massive brawl, with Hunter in the middle of all of it.

Then, after the 1986-1987 season, Quebec made a trade with Washington that hastened their decline as a franchise, and their renewal when they became the Colorado Avalanche. The Nordiques shipped Hunter and goaltender Clint Malarchuk to the Capitals for Gaetan Duchesne, Alan Haworth and a pick in the 1987 draft that became Joe Sakic. (He would lead Colorado to two Stanley Cups.)

Dale Hunter was heading south.

Capital career
Hunter joined the Capitals to start the 1987-1988 season where he had 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points and a whopping 240 penalty minutes.

It was in 1988 that he also scored what some said was the biggest goal in Capitals’ history to that point. Washington faced the defending Wales Conference champion Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. After the Flyers jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the series, Washington stormed back to force a seventh and deciding game.

Again, the teams went back and forth as they did the entire series. Hunter gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead at 5:19 of the third period only to have the Flyers tie the game a minute later and force overtime. With just about six minutes gone in the extra frame, Hunter scored to end the game and send the Capitals into the next round against New Jersey.

That goal, coupled with his overtime series winner in 1982 for Quebec, made Hunter the first player in NHL history to score two sudden death overtime, series winning goals in the sudden death final game of the series.

The following year, 1988-1989, he had 20 goals and 37 assists for 57 points, and 219 penalty minutes. He closed out the decade with a third season with similar numbers in 1989-1990 – 23 goals, 39 assists, 62 points and 233 penalty minutes.

He went on to play 12 seasons in Washington. His final season was 1998-1999 where he played 50 games for Washington before joining Colorado late in the year. He played 12 games for the Avalanche in the regular season then helped them all the way to the Stanley Cup semi-final where they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champions the Dallas Stars. He also served as captain of the Capitals from 1994 to 1999.

He finished his career with 323 goals and 697 assists for 1,020 points in 1,407 games. He also had 3,565 penalty minutes, the second most in NHL history behind Dave “Tiger” Williams, and the most penalty minutes in the playoffs with 731. However, Hunter is the only player in NHL history with 1,000 points and 3,000 penalty minutes. He also had the record for most games played to reach 1,000 points, until Patrick Marleau beat it. It probably took Hunter so long because he spent so much time in the penalty box.

Too far
What will always leave a sour taste in my mouth is an incident Hunter perpetrated in the 1992-1993 Stanley Cup playoffs against Pierre Turgeon and the New York Islanders.

It was Game 6 of the first-round Patrick Division semi-finals with New York leading the series 3-2. Turgeon stole an errant pass from Hunter late in the game and scored the clinching goal. While he celebrated, Hunter ran him from behind, separating Turgeon’s shoulder and giving him a concussion. It was such a cheap shot. Turgeon ended up missing most of the rest of the playoffs. The Islanders went deep into the playoffs too, beating Pittsburgh in seven games then playing Montreal in the conference final. Throughout, they had to compete without their best player.

For his actions, Hunter was suspended 21 games to start the 1993-1994 season. It was the longest suspension in league history to that point for an on-ice incident.

Wikipedia reveals Hunter admitted years later he had gone too far.

Parting thoughts
It is ironic that when Hunter joined the Avalanche in his final season, he was on a line with Theoren Fleury and Claude Lemieux two players very similar to Hunter – feisty, annoying agitators.

They were all cut from the same cloth, pests but with the hands and talent to score too.

That was Dale Hunter in a nutshell. He was tough, not afraid to play over the edge, and not afraid to do whatever it took to win.

A lot of people detested him, but everyone would gladly have him on their team.