From the Archives: “Hawerchuk Helped Young Jets Grow Up Quickly”

The following THN Archive story by the late Reyn Davis gives readers an inside look into the early years of Dale Hawerchuk's prowess with the Winnipeg Jets of the very early 1980s. From on-ice contributions to locker room conversations and galavants in the airplane, 'Ducky' quickly became a fan favourite in one of the league's top hockey-crazy markets.

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“Hawerchuk Helped Young Jets Grow Up Quickly”

April 23, 1982 – Vol. 35, Issue 29

By Reyn Davis

One day Winnipeg coach Tom Watt fell asleep on an airplane. When he awoke, half his tie was gone.

On another occasion, Dave Christian was still hungry after a typically light lunch on Northwest Orient.

So he ate a napkin, one boarding pass and an entire safety features guide.

When he was through dining, he found a needle and thread and stitched the sleeves together on Serge Savard’s suit.

John Ferguson was still chuckling to himself as he waited for his bags.

Standing in his favorite pose—legs apart, arms behind his back, clenching a tightly folded newspaper—he started to feel a gush of warm air.

Someone had lit his paper.

Goofy? Of course. They are the boys of winter.

For every member of the Winnipeg Jets this season, it has been fun, exciting and rewarding.

They have surprised everyone but themselves, compiling a 33-33-14 record through 80 games, finishing a strong second in their division (the Norris) and 10th overall in the-final National Hockey League standings.

And the champion of their cause has been the dimpled darling of the fans—Dale Hawerchuk.

An 18-year-old for all but the last of the 80 games, he set a standard of excellence on a team that had none.

“I don’t think there has ever been a rookie in the NHL who could have done what he’s done for us,” said Ferguson, the general manager and main architect on the most improved team in the history of the league.

Led by the dashing center, the Jets rose from the inequities of 21st place with a 48-point improvement over the previous year (9-57-14).

“I see something like that and I know what keeps us going,” said Marshall Johnston, assistant coach of the Colorado Rockies, a team in despair.

“If they can improve that much in one season, I know we can. They give us some badly-needed encouragement.”

Finding another Hawerchuk won’t be easy. He’s a jewel plucked from the draft and the Rockies, as everyone knows, have peddled most of their prime choices.

Hawerchuk was one of the eight rookies on a club that featured 13 new faces.

“This team wasn’t put together by mistake,” said Ferguson. “It was put together by design.”

But even he never expected such a dramatic rise to respectability.

“Maybe we’ve arrived a little quicker than I thought we would,” he said. “I figured we would definitely make the playoffs. But second place? I’ll take it.”

In doing so, Hawerchuk rewrote 17 club records and became the youngest player in the history of the NHL to reach the 100-point plateau.

He set club records for goals (45), assists (58) and points (103).

“I’m satisfied with my season,” he said. “But I know I can do better. I’ve learned a lot.”

Built rather rakishly—he’s almost six feet and weighs 175 pounds—Hawerchuk took his share of the knocks and vices of opponents bent on stopping him.

Of all the plays he made, one stands out. The Jets were playing in St. Louis on Tuesday, March 16.

It was early in the second period and the Blues were reeling as the Jets established a 3-0 lead.

Twisting in his own inimitable style, Hawerchuk led a l-on-3 rush. Three Blues converged him. Suddenly, he leaping through the air, knifing through the crowd with the puck veritably on a leash. Off balance as he landed, he kept his feet and with one hand steered a pass across the front of the St. Louis net, timing its arrival perfectly with Paul Mac Lean’s.

His burly right winger scored easily.

Of all the players who have been aided by Hawerchuk, the one who has benefited most is MacLean. He scored 36 goals, 12 of them on the power play.

“Playing with Ducky is simple,” said MacLean. “You give him the puck at center ice, then head for the right post. Sooner or later, it seems to get there.”

Hawerchuk is considered the favorite to win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year. His support is far reaching from Philadelphia to Buffalo to Montreal to Chicago to Vancouver.

“I think we’ve got the best rookie in the NHL,” said MacLean, a rookie himself. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s the Calder Trophy winner. It doesn’t matter what they write about me; he’s going to win it.”

MacLean and the line’s left winger, Larry Hopkins, have been described as the “Book Ends”. They have also been called fringe players, enjoying the company of a young star.

But the fact of the matter is, they have complemented Hawerchuk with their plodding styles. Because of their considerable size—MacLean weighs 195 pounds; Hopkins, 220—they can slug it out in the corners with the league’s biggest defensemen, tying them up while Hawerchuk is able to do his thing.

Hawerchuk’s value to the team extends far beyond his capacity to form an effective line with Hopkins and MacLean.

“His abilities and qualities make every guy on the team a little bit better,” said Ferguson. “He’s done more than we ever expected. And remember, he was only 18 for 79 games this season. What he’s done in his first year is unbelievable.”

“It’s hard to imagine how good he can be two or three years down the road.”

St. Louis coach Emile Francis had no illusions about Hawerchuk as the Blues entered the best-of-five Norris Division semifinal series in the opening round of Stanley Cup playoffs.

“The main thing is to stop him [Hawerchuk],” said Francis. “Give him credit. He’s a great young player and he’s Rookie of the Year as far as I’m concerned.”

The Jets’ two most influential members of the team are Hawerchuk and 36-year-old Serge Savard. Hawerchuk was only one-year-old the year Savard played on his first Stanley Cup champion.

“He’s going to be as good as Gretzky is,” said Savard, referring to the Edmonton Oilers’ superstar. “Remember, who said it first.”

Hawerchuk hates to be compared with Wayne Gretzky, a Gus Badali stablemate. Although their styles are similar, their ideals the same and their own importance to their teams comparible, Hawerchuk has no intention of becoming the next Gretzky.

He just wants to be the first Dale Hawerchuk.

Already, Hawerchuk is being considered as the subject of a book and a certain brand of peanut butter is going to be named after him.

Off the ice, he is the idol of every youngster in the city and the heart-throb of the ladies, not all of whom are teenagers.

Flowers, cakes and candies are always delivered to the door of the dressing room, much to the delight of his sweet-toothed team mates.

Accustomed to living in a home, where people reside, he shares a basement suite with his friend and former Cornwall teammate, Scott Amiel, the Jets’ second-round choice in the 1981 Entry Draft.

According to their landlady, the two boarders are perfect gentlemen with enormous appetites. As she put it, “they eat tons of ice cream and drink gallons of apple juice.”

Although individual records were either set by him or within his grasp, Hawerchuk never lost sight of the fact the team’s ambitions came first.

“The greatest ability he has is being able to always put the team ahead of himself,” said Ferguson. “He has a have-to-win attitude before every game.”

Willy Lindstrom, a seven-year veteran of the Jets, has been impressed by Hawerchuk’s influence on everyone in the dressing room.

“He never takes a night off,” said Lindstrom. “And when others are sloppy, I’ve seen him get awfully angry. He’ll slap his stick on the floor to show his disgust. I think that’s great.”

Other teams have started to envy the Jets and admire the resourcefulness of Ferguson, who refused to panic when the team was abysmally bad, sinking as low as a 30-game winless streak last season.

They marvel at how he pilfered a proven goaltender, Eddie Staniowski, defenseman Bryan Maxwell and MacLean out of St. Louis; lured Savard out of retirement; acquired rightwinger Lucien DeBlois from Colorado; pried goaltender Doug Soetaert from the Rangers; charmed Bengt Lundholm in Sweden; dipped into the waiver draft for another defenseman, Craig Levie; and brought along draft choices, such as defenseman Tim Watters and center Thomas Steen.

From last year’s team, he was able to form a nucleus from the likes of Dave Babych, Don Spring, Morris Lukowich, Tim Trimper, Doug Smail, Norm Dupont, Jimmy Mann, Lindstrom and Christian.

But the biggest move of all was drafting Hawerchuk. Suddenly, everyone else would become a little better.

One of the first to recognize what was happening was Mike Nykoluk, coach of Toronto Maple Leafs.

“At the start, I didn’t realize how, good he was,” said Nykoluk. “He relates to that team. He’s like Bobby Clarke used to be in Philly. He’s got that kind of magnetism.

“As 1 have said before, he could be as good as Gretzky.”