Hawerchuk To Be Honoured

In what has to be more than a little surreal for all involved, Winnipeg Jets legend Dale Hawerchuk will be honoured by the Phoenix Coyotes. Hawerchuk will be joining the Coyote's Ring Of Honour on April 5th, joining Bobby Hull and Thomas Steen as only the third player so honoured.

Strangely none of those players ever played for the Coyotes.

The Coyotes, of course, are the relocated Winnipeg Jets, for which Hull, Hawerchuk and Steen are the greatest players in team history. The Coyotes are not ignoring their pre-dessert past, although it has to be a little awkward for everyone, most of all for Hawerchuk who never played in the dessert, but also or for the fans who never heard of him.

Hawerchuk is certainly deserving of recognition of his service to the franchise. In nine seasons (1981-1990) with Winnipeg he ranks as the Jets/Coyotes all-time leader in goals (379) and points (929) and ranks 2nd in assists (550) and 4th in games played (713). He also ranks 1st in power play goals (122), 1st in hat tricks (12), T-3rd in shorthanded goals (12) and T-5th in game-winning goals (29). He was the Jets most prolific scorer in franchise history.

In 16 NHL seasons, he registered 518 goals and 891 assists for 1,409 points in 1,188 games. He also played 97 career playoff games, recording 30-69-99. Hawerchuk ranks 30th on the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leaders list, 19th on the NHL's all-time assist leaders list and 17th on the league's all-time point leaders list.

It's just too bad he couldn't be so honoured in Winnipeg.