Hunter Brothers

How do you like this run for the Hunter clan? 

 

Oct 10, 1979: Dave Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

Oct 9, 1980: Dale Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Logs two assists.

 

October 8, 1981: Mark Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

 

Yep, that's right. For three straight seasons, a new Hunter brother appeared in the NHL, and each one produced immediately. 

Their draft positions weren't too shabby, either. 

Dave: First-round pick (17th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1978

Dale: Second-round pick (41st overall) by the Québec Nordiques in 1979

Mark: First-round pick (7th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1981

Mom and dad must have been celebrating all the time back at the homestead in Ontario!

 

And when Edmonton took Dave from Montreal in the 1979 Expansion Draft, it was a Hunter brother takeover of Canadian teams! 

Here they are just a few years later:

1983-84 Vachon #29 Dave Hunter, #46 Mark Hunter, and #66 Dale Hunter

They might have been overshadowed around this time period by the Sutter brothers and the Stastny brothers. But make no mistake—the Hunter brothers were a force. All three were workmanlike. Tough. They could beat you down and score some points before you lifted yourself up off the ice.

Just look at the PIM totals for all three brothers, for example.

 

 

CAREER TOTALS

	DAVE (10 seasons)	DALE (19 seasons)	MARK (12 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	746	1407	628
GOALS	133	323	213
ASSISTS	190	697	171
POINTS	323	1020	384
PENALTY MINUTES	918	3565	1426
GAME-WINNING GOALS	15	42	19

 

 

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold)

	DAVE (1983-84, Edmonton)	DALE (1983-84, Québec)	MARK (1985-86, St. Louis)
GAMES PLAYED	80	77	78
GOALS	22	24	44
ASSISTS	26	55	30
POINTS	48	79	74
PENALTY MINUTES	90	232	171
GAME-WINNING GOALS	3	2	3

 

 

It's pretty impressive that Mark had the most points and most penalty minutes of his career in the same season. It's tougher to put up points when you spend 171 minutes in the box!

Let's cover a little more ground now.

Dave Hunter (LW) played in the NHL from 1979-80 through 1988-89. He was a three-time cup winner with the Oilers, largely overshadowed by the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, et al. He also suited up for Pittsburgh and Winnipeg.

Dale Hunter (C) played in the NHL from 1980-81 through 1998-99. He received Selke Trophy votes (best defensive forward) quite a few times through his career. However, the cheap shot he put on Pierre Turgeon in the 1992-93 playoffs still upsets a lot of hockey fans—especially on Long Island—and remains a dark mark on Hunter's career. Dale is the all-time leader in career playoff penalty minutes with 731, and sits in second place in career penalty minutes with 3,565. He also played in 186 career playoff games, which, at the time of this writing, places him at #31 all time. And here's a unique distinction: Dale Hunter is the only player in NHL history with 1,000 career points and 3,000 career penalty minutes.

Mark Hunter (RW) played in the NHL from 1981-82 through 1992-93. He was an all-star in 1985-86 with St. Louis, and won the Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1988-89. Overall, he played for Montreal, St. Louis, Calgary, and Hartford. 

 

So why did I add the LW, C, and RW designations for each brother?

Well, I think it's pretty cool that you had a complete forward line of Hunter Brothers.

Do you know what other group of brothers made up a complete forward line in the 1980s? The Stastnys!

How remarkable would it have been if all three Hunter brothers played for Montreal at some point in the early '80s, and faced off against the Stastny brothers with the Nordiques during the season? Or in the playoffs?

 

Or what if Dave and Mark had been traded to Québec to join Dale? The Nordiques could have had one full forward line of Stastny brothers, and the next full forward line of Hunter brothers. That's half of the forwards on the team!

I guess either scenario would have been pretty rough on the play-by-play guy.

Regardless, it's fun to think about. So here's to the Hunter brothers. Three solid hockey men. Three solid careers, to boot.