Dave Hunter could have and probably should have, started his NHL career as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, who selected him 17th overall in the 1978 amateur draft. He’d instead make his debut with the Edmonton Oilers after signing with an upstart outfit that included a skinny kid named Wayne Gretzky here in Alberta for what would turn out to be the WHA’s final season.
Then, in the kind of horse trading we will see in the upcoming expansion draft involving Las Vegas, Hunter stuck with the Oilers after the WHA merger with the NHL. The Canadiens agreed not to grab Hunter back in a reclamation draft in exchange for the Oilers agreeing not to pluck Rod Langway, Bill Nyrop, or Gilles Lupien from them in the 1979 expansion draft. Suffice to say, it all worked out pretty well for the Oilers and Hunter, who won three Stanley Cups here after saying “no thanks” to the Habs.
Dave Hunter
Forward
Born Jan 1 1958 — Petrolia, ONT
Height 6.00 — Weight 200 [183 cm/91 kg]
Born Jan 1 1958 — Petrolia, ONT
Height 6.00 — Weight 200 [183 cm/91 kg]
Drafted by Montreal Canadiens
Round 1 #17 overall 1978 NHL Amateur Draft
BY THE NUMBERS
Season | Tm | Lg | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | S |
1978-79 | 72 | 7 | 25 | 32 | 7 | 134 | 71 | ||
1979-80 | 80 | 12 | 31 | 43 | 7 | 103 | 109 | ||
1980-81 | 78 | 12 | 16 | 28 | -12 | 98 | 104 | ||
1981-82 | 63 | 16 | 22 | 38 | 33 | 63 | 124 | ||
1982-83 | 80 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 12 | 120 | 113 | ||
1983-84 | 80 | 22 | 26 | 48 | 25 | 90 | 117 | ||
1984-85 | 80 | 17 | 19 | 36 | -1 | 122 | 119 | ||
1985-86 | 62 | 15 | 22 | 37 | 37 | 77 | 110 | ||
1986-87 | 77 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 1 | 79 | 84 | ||
1987-88 | TOT | 80 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 9 | 83 | 133 | |
1987-88 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 18 | ||
1987-88 | 59 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 8 | 77 | 115 | ||
1988-89 | TOT | 66 | 6 | 6 | 12 | -8 | 83 | 87 | |
1988-89 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 61 | 43 | ||
1988-89 | 32 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -5 | 22 | 44 | ||
10 yrs | EDM | NHL | 653 | 119 | 171 | 290 | 98 | 780 | 942 |
1 yr | WIN | NHL | 34 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 61 | 43 |
1 yr | PIT | NHL | 59 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 8 | 77 | 115 |
1 yr | EDO | WHA | 72 | 7 | 25 | 32 | 7 | 134 | 71 |
Career | NHL | 746 | 133 | 190 | 323 | 103 | 918 | 1100 | |
Career | WHA | 72 | 7 | 25 | 32 | 7 | 134 | 71 |
PLAYOFFS
Season | Tm | Lg | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM |
1978-79 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 42 | ||
1979-80 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |||
1980-81 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | |||
1981-82 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 26 | |||
1982-83 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 60 | |||
1983-84 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 14 | ||
1984-85 | 18 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 33 | ||
1985-86 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 23 | ||
1986-87 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 20 | ||
1988-89 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | ||
Career | NHL | 105 | 16 | 24 | 40 | 24 | 211 | |
Career | WHA | 13 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 42 |
NOTABLE
Hunter was smart enough to know he’d never be a big scorer at the NHL level. Of course, he didn’t have to be – not with Gretzky and all the other top-end talent the Oilers amassed in his first couple of seasons here. In his best season with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL, Hunter managed 88 points. That came as a 20-year-old in 1977-78. For context, Bobby Smith won the OHL scoring title that season with 192 points. Gretzky had 182.
Hunter’s calling card would be that he could check opponents to distraction and play a two-way game – we call those guys 200-foot players today. Then as now, it wasn’t a very glamorous job description, but Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Jari Kurri pretty much had glamourous covered at the top of the marquee. Hunter, who scored 12 goals and had 43 points as a NHL rookie, figured that out pretty quickly. Find ‘em and grind ‘em would become his game.
Hunter established himself as a checker during the 1981 playoffs when the upstart Oilers shocked everybody by sweeping the Canadiens in three games in the first round. Hunter set his sights on Montreal kingpin Guy Lafleur, who was coming off a 70-point season (in just 51 games) after six straight years in which his worst total was 119 points. Lafleur managed just one assist in the series as Hunter and the Oilers waxed the Habs 6-3, 3-1 and 6-2.
THE STORY
Hunter was a member of Edmonton’s first Stanley Cup team in 1984 and also hoisted the silverware with the Oilers in 1985 and 1987 before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the blockbuster Paul Coffey deal in return for Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha, Wayne Van Dorp and Chris Joseph.
Hunter would have encores with the Oilers after being returned to Edmonton by the Penguins as compensation for Hannan being reclaimed on waivers and after a 34-game stint with the Jets in Winnipeg during the 1988-89 season. Those are sidebars, though, as Hunter made his mark as a significant role player with the talented team that came out of the WHA and eventually went on to form the NHL’s last true dynasty. That’s why he’s on this list.
When you look at championship teams and glance past the names at the top of the marquee, no matter what the sport, there are role players like Hunter who go about their business quietly and do a lot more than just fill a spot on the roster. It’s honest and necessary work. Simply put, Hunter saw more opportunity in Edmonton than he did closer to home in Montreal, so he took a chance rather than sign with the powerhouse Habs. The Oilers are glad he did.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
