The fall of Dale Hawerchuk

[ColdSteel2]

I never really got to see him in his prime but man did this guy fall off fast and hard at ages it shouldn't have happened. Obviously injuries had something to do with it but what kind of injuries and was there more to the story than just that?

 

[Rhiessan71]

I never really got to see him in his prime but man did this guy fall off fast and hard at ages it shouldn't have happened. Obviously injuries had something to do with it but what kind of injuries and was there more to the story than just that?

Concussions, same as Lafontaine.
Other injuries slowed Dale down here and there but the concussions caused the steep drop off.

 

[BraveCanadian]

He had an arthritic and degenerative left hip which slowed him down noticeably and eventually forced his retirement.

I saw him at an old timers game several years ago and he was still something to see with how he could dangle the puck around.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

He was also a heavy smoker and not the greatest skater, so I think that eventually caught up to him. He made a lot of below average wingers in Winnipeg look very good.

 

[saskganesh]

He was also a heavy smoker ...

I was about to say.

He had some "conditioning" issues early in his career. The team hired a nutritionist to help him get over his slow starts in 82 and 83. Maybe he did more partying than training.

Of course, what?, he was 19-20 then. It's not unusual among some young players to treat themselves badly. Talent helps mitigate this tendency for a while.

 

[Big Phil]

I'm a big Hawerchuk fan and to be honest I don't think he dropped off that much. He had 13 straight seasons of 80 or more points. One other player has done that and you can guess who. That's a lot of seasons of good to great production. He was a top 10 scorer as late as 1992. His last good season was 1994 and he was turning 31 at that time. Yeah, a little young, but he also started in the NHL at 18 and season after season had to carry the Jets on his back. That'll tire you out. Hawerchuk was good at both ends of the ice so he had a lot of responsibility in Winnipeg and the team was never going anywhere in that division.

He was on two Canada Cups and was thought of highly enough to be asked again in 1991. I think he just got burned out. 13 seasons is a lot of hockey by the age of 31.

 

[Passchendaele]

I'm a big Hawerchuk fan and to be honest I don't think he dropped off that much. He had 13 straight seasons of 80 or more points. One other player has done that and you can guess who. That's a lot of seasons of good to great production. He was a top 10 scorer as late as 1992. His last good season was 1994 and he was turning 31 at that time. Yeah, a little young, but he also started in the NHL at 18 and season after season had to carry the Jets on his back. That'll tire you out. Hawerchuk was good at both ends of the ice so he had a lot of responsibility in Winnipeg and the team was never going anywhere in that division.

He was on two Canada Cups and was thought of highly enough to be asked again in 1991. I think he just got burned out. 13 seasons is a lot of hockey by the age of 31.

Well, most forwards from that era were pretty much washed up once they reached their 30s. Denis Savard became second fiddle at 29. Bryan Trottier went downhill offensively speaking. Same thing happened to Jari Kurri (who still played with Gretzky on the Kings).

 

[MS]

Hawerchuk was consistently excellent until the degenerative hip condition developed in 1995. After that happened, he was quickly out of hockey inside of two years.

He's a cut-and-dried injury issue to me.

 

[Budddy]

He had an arthritic and degenerative left hip which slowed him down noticeably and eventually forced his retirement.

I saw him at an old timers game several years ago and he was still something to see with how he could dangle the puck around.

i was lucky to play with him in a legends game a few years ago and he was awesome...great speed...always one of my favs...if i recall correctly the Jets were gonna beat the Oilers in 1990 until he got a rib injury that series? or something like that...