Twenty-five years ago this summer, the first class of elite-level unrestricted free agents (UFAs) hit the open market. The NHL was reeling from its first work stoppage with the 1994-1995 season reduced to 48 games. The new collective bargaining agreement granted unconditional free agency to any player age 32 or older once his contract expired.
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Dale Hawerchuk in his days with the Winnipeg Jets.
One of the first players to go was future Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk, a veteran of 14 NHL seasons with 489 goals and 1,314 points. This was his first real chance to grab the cash – he inked a three-year deal for $7.5 million – and his first legitimate chance to challenge for a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues were in a spending mode 25 years ago, signing unconditional free agents Geoff Courtnall, Grant Fuhr and Brian Noonan. The man they truly wanted was Hawerchuk, and the actual negotiations took a scant few minutes. St. Louis coach and GM Mike Keenan realized he was getting an aging superstar with still much to offer, because Keenan had a hand in Hawerchuk’s development and then witnessed his dominance in the league for over a decade.
In his prime, Hawerchuk made it seem the game came easily to him. He was a deft playmaker and a natural goal scorer. He was so talented his name was frequently brought up in the same sentence as Wayne Gretzky’s. (How about that comparison of two Ukrainian hockey superstars?) Both centers dominated the game like few before them. Neither could be characterized an artistic skater, but when it came to vision and instincts, the two were almost without rivals.
“Ducky” Hawerchuk never completed that last contract he signed, instead was forced into retirement due to injury after a second season in Philadelphia, stepping away from the sport at age 34 with 518 goals, 1,409 points in 1,188 games over 16 seasons.
Contrary to most impressions, the game did not come easy to him. He rarely felt comfortable on the ice and really had to work hard for everything he got all the way back to his youth hockey days in Oshawa, Ontario. Hawerchuk got results, but had to find ways to score because of his sub-par skating abilities.
Fortunately Hawerchuk’s awkward, yet effective skating did not hold him back. He played Junior B for the Oshawa Legionnaires at age 15 under coach Keenan, who kept Hawerchuk on the ice after practice a few times in an effort to improve his skating. One year later, Hawerchuk was selected by the Quebec Junior League’s Cornwall Royals and proceeded to win back-to-back Memorial Cups (junior hockey championships) in 1979-1980 and 1980-1981.
A 16-year-old Hawerchuk was second for Cornwall in scoring with 37 goals and 103 points in 73 games. In his second and final junior campaign he netted an unbelievable 81 goals and 102 assists for 183 points in 72 games. He was the main man in Cornwall’s second straight Memorial Cup Championship year. Despite the pressure he faced as the headliner, Hawerchuk came through with flying colors.
When the Winnipeg Jets made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft it was hardly shocking. The Ontario lad would adapt to the long, cold winters and love the hockey atmosphere where he got a shot to play right away on a last place team.
Hawerchuk made an immediate impact, becoming an NHL star by claiming the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie with 45 goals and 103 points in 80 games. He enjoyed nine seasons in Winnipeg, but a GM change saw Mike Smith trade “Ducky” to the Buffalo Sabres. Five additional seasons as a Sabre led to the lockout-shortened 1994-1995 and his decision to be the first marquee free agent of the modern era, signing with the Blues in the summer of 1995. St. Louis outbid the Jets, Flyers and Canucks for the Ukrainian star who thought he was being temporarily slowed down by a nagging groin injury. It turned out to be a serious hip issue and the beginning of the end of Hawerchuk’s career. He played 66 games with the Blues, then was traded to Philadelphia, where he played 67 games over two seasons.
At the not-so-old age of 34, Hawerchuk was forced to hang up his skates. The four-time top-10 scorer in the NHL never won a Stanley Cup, but he was a key contributor to two Canada Cup championships. At the end, it was almost impossible for him to get out of bed in the morning due to severe hip pain.
Since his retirement, Hawerchuk has raised show horses, bought into a Tier 2 junior team, took over as its coach and eventually accepted head coaching duties of the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He enjoyed much success in Barrie, disproving the theory that superstar athletes do not make good coaches.
He has continued to try and prove himself every day because that is what Hawerchuk has always done. He makes it look easy, thanks to hard work.
Since August 2019, he’s been hard at work battling stomach cancer, undergoing chemotherapy treatments and major stomach surgery.
In an October 21, 2019, interview with TSN, Hawerchuk said he was ready to fight it. “I want to live to tell the story. Like anything in life, you just got to dig in and go for what your goals are. It’s kind of no different than trying to make the NHL. Who knew if I could make it, right?”
All things considered, the odds are just “Ducky.”
Dale Hawerchuk was inducted into the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Ihor Stelmach may be reached at iman@sfgsports.com.