57. Stomach cancer . Had the misfortune of being in the same division as Gretzky so was often overlooked but put up some monster seasons in those halcyon days of 80s hockey . Condolences to CH.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Hawercuck couldn't even handle a little cancer. Imagine what covid would have done to him.

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Ain't that the truth. And it's worse than that: the playoffs were seeded 1-4 in the division with no crossovers like they are now, and there weren't enough teams out west to kick Winnipeg to the midwest, so all those good-not-great Jets teams in the Smythe would run into Gretzky's Oilers or the MacInnis/Fleury/Vernon Flames teams that were also really good. I think once or twice they got one over on Calgary only to get swept by Edmonton anyway. And then all the while over in the Norris you had decent Hawks teams and dogshit Leafs/Stars/Blues teams taking turns getting free passes to the Campbell Final so they could lose to the Oilers. The divisional playoff is great in theory if the divisions are on relatively equal footing. As it was, the Jets and to a lesser extent the Nords couldn't help but get jobbed out.

Hawerchuk was a special player in that he overcame terrible mechanics to thrive in a way that I think has been pretty much trained out. "Ducky" wasn't a play on his name, it was that his skating stride was kind of a waddle.

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Was that the guy who almost died when a skate slit his throat?

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No, that was Clint Malarchuk, goalie for the Sabres, Nordiques, and elsewhere. The old guy on the '04 Lightning was Dave Andreychuk. So many Ukrainians, so little time.

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