Buffalo Sabres: Remembering Dale Hawerchuk’s time in Buffalo

Dale Hawerchuk sadly passed away on Tuesday at the age of 57 after battling cancer. We look back on his time with the Buffalo Sabres.

Tuesday Aug. 18, 2020 was a sad day for the Buffalo Sabres and everyone else in the hockey world. Dale Hawerchuk unfortunately passed away at the age of 57, after a brave battle with cancer.

The Sabres issued a statement to share their condolences. As per Twitter, the statement read:

The Sabres were fortunate to have Hawerchuk for five seasons of his NHL Hall of Fame career. He arrived in Buffalo as part of a blockbuster trade which took place during the 1990 draft.

The Toronto, Ontario native was outstanding during his time in Western New York, helping the team advance to the playoffs in each of his five seasons. His best year with the Sabres was arguably the 1991-92 campaign, when he had 98 points (23 goals and 75 assists) in 77 regular season games.

Hawerchuck was prolific and durable throughout his tenure in Buffalo, leading them in both games played and assists. As per Chris Ryndak of Sabres.com, he was the Sabres’ regular season scoring leader in three of his five seasons.

The impressive play didn’t stop there, as the five-time NHL All-Star was also first on the team in playoff scoring while in Buffalo. He totaled 34 points (nine goals and 25 assists) in 30 postseason games.

To give some idea of Hawerchuk’s overall impact and consistency, consider that he ranks third in Sabres history with an average of 1.13 points per game. He also managed to reach two special milestones while playing in Western New York.

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As per Ryndak, the 1981 first overall draft pick became the 31st player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points, in 1990-91. In 1995-96, he became the 23rd player in NHL history to score 500 goals.

As a result of all this, it was no surprise Hawerchuk was inducted in the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2011. It was more than deserving for a player who treated the game of hockey with respect; certainly, no one ever worked harder than him on the ice.

Of course it also helped that Hawerchuk had excellent talent to go with his work ethic, which resulted in him finishing his NHL career with 1,409 points (518 goals and 891 assists) in 1,188 regular season games. He added another 99 points (30 goals and 69 assists) in 97 career playoff appearances.

We join the many others in sharing our condolences with the Hawerchuk family. Number 10 will be sadly missed.

Do you have any particular memories from Hawerchuk’s time with the Buffalo Sabres? What impressed you most about him? Let us know in the comments section below.