It's All about the Dale Hawerchuk

[I am Defecting]

In the Pantheon of Sabres Greats, where would Dale Hawerchuk rank? Or would he rank at all?

 

He is one of seven former Sabres in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 

From 1990 to 1995, the former 1st overall selection scored 296 points in 262 games (1.13ppg).

 

Hawerchuk's career 1.18ppg average is higher than Lafontaine's career average.

 

Hawerchuk ranks 19th all time for career points in the history of the NHL.

 

The only former Buffalo Sabres player to have scored more points in his NHL career was Doug Gilmore who scored 5 more points in 286 more games than Hawerchuk.

 

Dale Hawerchuk had more goals per game than the all time NHL leader in powerplay goals, Dave Andreychuk.

 

Hawerchuk has 1409 career points, and 518 career goals. Both are higher totals than Perreault, Yet, Hawerchuk achieved these numbers in fewer games played.

 

He ranks 9th all time for points per game in the history of the NHL.

 

I submit this evidence to you, in the belief that Hawerchuk may be the greatest hockey player to have ever donned the Blue and Gold.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCaVzt7Uen4

Edited May 18, 2014 by Yuri Olesha

[gregkash]

Dominik Hasek is the best player to ever play for BUffalo, but Hawerchuck was damn good.

[Tom Backyard]

'cause I'm not Sylvain Séguin anymore,

 

my name is Dale Hawerchuk

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9uF5r4K7OI

Edited May 17, 2014 by Tom Backyard

[dudacek]

Duckey was awesome.

Hawerchuk Bodger Mogilny Lafontaine Andreychuk: Best power play in Sabre history.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

Duckey was awesome.

Hawerchuk Bodger Mogilny Lafontaine Andreychuk: Best power play in Sabre history.

 

They also had Craig Simpson thrown in there for a stint.....

 

For those that think a couple #1 centers will save a franchise, we had 2 first ballot hall of famers at the end of their prime and we still sucked flying donkey ####.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Not the best, IMO, but certainly top 5.

 

11, was the best Sabre player ever, IMO.

 

So ... 11, 39, 16, 10 (Hawerchuk) and 89, would be my top 5.

[deluca67]

Hawerchuk was one of the better offensive talents to wear a Sabres uniform, I wouldn't consider him one of the top 10 Sabres of all-time. Hawerchuk is comparable to LaFontaine and Briere as where they were here for a short time. I would consider Briere as having the most impact of the three.

[Marvelo]

I once watched Hawerchuk flip it over the net to himself and score. I think it was against the Flyers. Never saw that before or since.

The master of the 2" pass.

[I am Defecting]

:rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6avQcV2vH8

 

Remember the May Day goal? The Sabres swept the Bruins that series. The Sabres were then swept by the Habs in 4 consecutive 4-3 games. Hawerchuk had 14 pts in 8 games in those playoffs. I could be wrong, but I don't think that any other Sabre has ever done better than 1.75 ppg in a playoff year.

 

Hawerchuk's .65 goals created per game in those playoffs were best in the NHL, ahead of Gretzky and Lemieux.

 

http://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/NHL_1993.html

 

Thus I have presented further evidence that Dale Hawerchuk may be the greatest hockey player to have donned the Blue and Gold.

 

Statistically,Hasek and Hawerchuk, are apples and oranges.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Yuri Olesha

[Marvelo]

:rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6avQcV2vH8

 

Remember the May Day goal? The Sabres swept the Bruins that series. The Sabres were then swept by the Habs in 4 consecutive 4-3 games. Hawerchuk had 14 pts in 8 games in those playoffs. I could be wrong, but I don't think that any other Sabre has ever done better than 1.75 ppg in a playoff year.

 

YEAH BABY!!!!!!! Thanks Yuri, I had forgotten what a superstar offensive play in a Sabres uniform had looked like.

Edited May 17, 2014 by 716

[HopefulFuture]

Not the best, IMO, but certainly top 5.

 

11, was the best Sabre player ever, IMO.

 

So ... 11, 39, 16, 10 (Hawerchuk) and 89, would be my top 5.

excellent rankings and spot on. Anyone who believes Gilbert isn't the greatest sabre to date didn't obviously have the pleasure and joy of watching him play.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

excellent rankings and spot on. Anyone who believes Gilbert isn't the greatest sabre to date didn't obviously have the pleasure and joy of watching him play.

 

The sad thing for me is that I just remember him hanging on at the end and the drama of him retiring or going for 500. I think it also said something when Gare got traded, that nobody really said.."Here's our captain!". It just sort of happened how like a 58 year old, 300lb county sheriff gets the overtime gig at the Bills games a few months before retirement.

 

 

[dudacek]

If you are talking greatest Sabres, he's not in the running, but if you talk greatest players to be Sabres he's right there.

Hasek is number one, the I'd go Bert, Patty, ducky, and 89.

Hawerchuk is probably one of the most underrated talents this team ever had.

And that playoff Yuri talks about is the best playoff performance I can remember by a Sabre, although Perreault was awesome in the run we made in Bowmans first year

[kooshari]

Duckey was awesome.

Hawerchuk Bodger Mogilny Lafontaine Andreychuk: Best power play in Sabre history.

 

Hawerchuk played one of the points on the PP, right?

 

Props to the OP for opening up an interesting topic.

[dudacek]

 

 

Hawerchuk played one of the points on the PP, right?

 

 

 

Yep.

[IKnowPhysics]

Hawerchuk played one of the points on the PP, right?

 

And boy would he slap it.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

 

Hawerchuk played one of the points on the PP, right?

 

Props to the OP for opening up an interesting topic.

 

It is a good topic. He was just the definition of slick. I think he was overshadowed by being here with Lafontaine. For as skilled as he was, he had a little dirt to him like Briere did.

 

If I remember correctly, the last time he was in Buffalo, he was crocked for an on ice presentation and had a smoking hot daughter. That's reason enough for consideration....

[Hawerchuk]

Thanks for all the kind words. I really appreciate it and loved being a Sabre. Wish I coulda won a Cup for all you great Buffalo fans! Cheers.

[Weave]

Howerchuk was definitely overshadowed by LaFontaine and Mogilny. But he was a great talent and I was floored when we traded for him. Seemed like a whole lot of bad luck prevented more playoff success during those years. Those were some seriously entertaining teams (if somewhat flawed).

[DHawerchuk10]

:rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6avQcV2vH8

 

Remember the May Day goal? The Sabres swept the Bruins that series. The Sabres were then swept by the Habs in 4 consecutive 4-3 games. Hawerchuk had 14 pts in 8 games in those playoffs. I could be wrong, but I don't think that any other Sabre has ever done better than 1.75 ppg in a playoff year.

 

Hawerchuk's .65 goals created per game in those playoffs were best in the NHL, ahead of Gretzky and Lemieux.

 

http://www.hockey-re...s/NHL_1993.html

 

Thus I have presented further evidence that Dale Hawerchuk may be the greatest hockey player to have donned the Blue and Gold.

 

Statistically,Hasek and Hawerchuk, are apples and oranges.

 

These are great facts that you are bringing to the table! He also might have been one of the best passers the Sabres ever had. The guy could thread the needle like no other. He had 80 assists playing on the 2nd line in '92-'93, with the likes of Randy Wood. If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is.

[Marvelo]

He Was the best passer the Sabres ever had, no doubt about it.

[I am Defecting]

The highest point total that Sydney Crosby has ever recorded in a season is 120.

 

Dale Hawerchuk eclipsed that total in two seasons: 84-85 (130pts), and 87-88 (121pts).

 

I love Dale "Mighty Duck" Hawerchuk, and think that he may have been a better player than Gilbert "Dipsy Doodle" Perreault. :ph34r:

 

BTW, I have no memory of Perreault, but he was like Mogilny, only drunker, smokier, frencher, slower, and less russian, RIGHT?!, from what I gather.

 

But why have point totals in the NHL gone down so much over the years. There used to be more than a few players per season to eclipse 100 pts per season. Now so uninspiring.

 

Other sports are setting records. Why not NHL players? Is it because The Mighty Duck has retired? Or no?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjCXX40WQo

Edited May 18, 2014 by Yuri Olesha

[deluca67]

The highest point total that Sydney Crosby has ever recorded in a season is 120.

 

Dale Hawerchuk eclipsed that total in two seasons: 84-85 (130pts), and 87-88 (121pts).

 

I love Dale "Mighty Duck" Hawerchuk, and think that he may have been a better player than Gilbert "Dipsy Doodle" Perreault. :ph34r:

 

BTW, I have no memory of Perreault, but he was like Mogilny, only drunker and smokier, frenchier, slower, and less russian, RIGHT?!, from what I gather.

 

But why have point totals in the NHL gone down so much over the years. There used to be more than a few players per season to eclipse 100 pts per season. Now so uninspiring.

 

Other sports are setting records. Why not NHL players?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjCXX40WQo

You can't really compare Crosby and Hawerchuk. When Crosby scored his 120 the highest scoring team in the league was the Sabres with 308. In 1984 12 teams scored over 300 goals. Actually, the worst scoring team in 1984 was the Leafs with 253 goals that would have placed them tied for 11th in 2006.

[Weave]

The highest point total that Sydney Crosby has ever recorded in a season is 120.

 

Dale Hawerchuk eclipsed that total in two seasons: 84-85 (130pts), and 87-88 (121pts).

 

I love Dale "Mighty Duck" Hawerchuk, and think that he may have been a better player than Gilbert "Dipsy Doodle" Perreault. :ph34r:

 

BTW, I have no memory of Perreault, but he was like Mogilny, only drunker and smokier, frencher, slower, and less russian, RIGHT?!, from what I gather.

 

But why have point totals in the NHL gone down so much over the years. There used to be more than a few players per season to eclipse 100 pts per season. Now so uninspiring.

 

Other sports are setting records. Why not NHL players?

 

 

Haing watched both Perreault and Hawerchuk, my opinion was that Perreault was the better, more exciting player to watch. By a good bit too. But both were exceptional talents. Mogilny's game was speed. he was a fantastic puck handler at high speed. Bert and Dale were not speed merchants. Not in Mogilny's class anyway.

 

Other sports recognize that offense is exciting and sells the game so they adjust the rules to make it harder on defenders. The NHL turns and looks the other way at illegal defensive plays that make it harder for offenses to be successful.

[K-9]

I'll leave the stats out of it and let others make the case for what they mean. Hawerchuck is one of the best ever and I'll leave it at that.

 

But no player in the history of the Sabres has ever given me that pit of the stomach excitement when winding up in his own end, like Perreault. And I mean EVERY time. I can't remember a player that was a threat to go end to end EVERY TIME. And that's no exaggeration; not one ounce of hyperbole. He was OJ on skates.

 

GO SABRES!!!