Dale Hunter

Dale Robert Hunter (born July 31, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and the former head coach of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and current co-owner, president, and head coach of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

He was born in Petrolia, Ontario, but grew up in nearby (13 km) Oil Springs, Ontario.

He is the middle of three Hunter brothers, with older brother Dave and younger brother Mark, to play in the NHL.

He was selected 41st overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

He would begin his NHL career a year later in 1980 and played seven years with the Nordiques.

According to his former Quebec Nordiques coach Michel Bergeron, even though Hunter was nicknamed the "Nuisance" on ice (La Petite Peste in French), he was known to be "humble" in the dressing room and a sort of "gentleman", close to all the players.

He was the "perfect player", always the first to arrive at practice and ready to do all his best for the team.

Thanks to his charisma, Hunter was a fan favourite in both Quebec and Washington.

His leaving Quebec was seen as an obvious "mistake" linked to the team's future decline.

At the end of the, Hunter was traded to the Washington Capitals along with Clint Malarchuk in return for Gaetan Duchesne, Alan Haworth, and a 1987 first-round draft pick the Nordiques then used to select future Hall of Famer Joe Sakic.

In the 1988 Patrick Division Semifinals between the Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, Hunter scored one of the biggest goals in Caps history.

That goal was scored on a breakaway at 5:57 of overtime, beating Ron Hextall and gave Washington the 5–4 win in the deciding game 7.

During the 1991–92 Washington Capitals season, younger brother Mark briefly joined Hunter with the Capitals, playing seven games with the club.

In the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals between the Capitals and New York Islanders, Hunter led his team with seven postseason goals.

That performance was marred by an illegal and potentially career-ending check on Islanders' star Pierre Turgeon.

This illegal check occurred after Turgeon had stolen an errant pass of Hunter's and subsequently scored.

As Turgeon was celebrating, Hunter came up from behind and checked the unaware Turgeon into the boards, leading to a concussion and a separated right shoulder.

As a result of the incident, Hunter was suspended for the first 21 games of the 1993–94 season as part of new commissioner Gary Bettman's effort to crack down on violent play.

Hunter played for 12 seasons with the Washington Capitals, serving as team captain from 1994 to 1999.

He played in the 1997 NHL All-Star Game.

In 1998, he led the fourth-seeded Capitals to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, defeating the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres in the earlier rounds.

In the finals, the Capitals were swept by the defending Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, with the first three games being decided by one goal.

Hunter finished the 1998–99 season with the Colorado Avalanche, the successor to the Nordiques.

He helped the team reach that season's Western Conference finals, losing in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars.

On that team, he often played on the same line as two other renowned pest role players – Claude Lemieux and Theoren Fleury.

Hunter retired at the end of that playoff run, after 19 full seasons in the NHL.

In March 1999, at the trade deadline for the, Hunter was traded back to his original franchise, albeit since relocated and renamed the Colorado Avalanche.

Hunter broke the 1,000 points barrier during the, becoming the NHL record holder for requiring the most games to do so by a forward, at 1,308; the record stood until Patrick Marleau achieved the feat in his 1,349th game, during the.

Hunter holds the record for the player with the most penalty minutes to have scored 1,000 or more points.

Hunter's sweater number (#32) was retired by the Capitals on March 11, 2000.

During the ceremony, the Capitals presented Hunter with one of the penalty boxes from the Capital Centre (the Capitals former home arena), symbolic of his exceptional amount of time served for penalties.

In 2000, Hunter and his brother, Mark—also a former NHL player—teamed up with Dale's former teammate on the Nordiques, Basil McRae, to buy the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

Dale became team president and head coach.

He led the Knights to the 2005 and 2016 Memorial Cup.

On January 1, 2006, the Hunter brothers were named to the 2006 Mayor's New Year's Honours List for Sports by the City of London, Ontario.

Hunter's older brother Dave Hunter is also a former NHLer.

His son Dylan Hunter is an assistant coach for the Knights and his other son Tucker also played for the London Knights before pursuing his education at the University of Western Ontario.

On November 28, 2011, Hunter resigned his position as head coach of the Knights to take the same position with the Washington Capitals, succeeding Bruce Boudreau.

His brother Mark then took over as Knights coach.

Hunter's defense oriented system caused some conflict with star Alexander Ovechkin but it helped the struggling Capitals make the playoffs, where they upset the defending Stanley Cup champions Boston Bruins in the first round before being eliminated by the New York Rangers, both postseason series going to seven games.