Dale Hawerchuk calls Jets Hall of Fame induction a tribute to city that 'shaped my life'

DaleHawerchuknever played the tough guy role during his NHLdays and he's certainly not about to do it on Tuesday.

Theformer Winnipeg Jets superstar who tallied nearly twice as many points as he did penalty minutes will be inducted into the Jets Hall of Fame before the team's game against the Arizona Coyotes.

"I'm emotional. I guess you could say I'm a crier at times the emotion and the passion of it all," said Hawerchuk, a Toronto-born kid who came of age in Manitoba, after he was drafted first overall by the Jets in 1981.

"Winnipeg and Manitoba really shaped my life. I went there at 18 and lived in the province for many years."

He fondly remembers the feeling ofskating onto theNHLrinks during his rookie season, playing against guys he watched as a fanand, of course,scoring hisfirst goal on Oct. 9,1981.

It came less than a minute into the first periodagainst the New York Rangers in the old Winnipeg Arena and helped lead the Jets to an 8-3 win.

"I was doing something that I'd dreamt about," said Hawerchuk, now 54, recalling how he and his friends played road hockey as kids and all dreamed of making the NHL but he was the only one who did.

"Any time I got into the car and drove to that rink, the Winnipeg Arena,I was just smiling, grinning ear to ear," he said.

"It was such a good fit for me [being a Jet]. I was crazy about hockey and when I got to Winnipeg, I soon realized the whole province was crazy about the game and the Jets as well."

By the end of his first season, he had celebrated his 19th birthday and become the youngest NHL player in history to reach 100 points a record only broken bySidneyCrosbyin 2006. He finished the year with45 goals and 103 total points, won theCalderMemorial Trophyas theNHL'srookie of the year and was selected to theall-star game.

In his nine seasons in Winnipeg, he led the team in scoring every year and recorded 100 or more points in six seasons.

Hawerchukby the numbers

• 18 Age when he was drafted in 1981
• 5 seasons as Jets captain
• 5 times an NHLall-star
• 15 NHLhat tricks
• 103 points in rookie season
• 713 games as a Jet
• 730 NHLpenalty minutes
• 929 points as a Jet
• 1,188 total NHL games played
• 1,409 total NHLpoints

He bid Winnipeg goodbye in 1990, at age 27, part of a blockbuster trade with the Buffalo Sabres.

Hawerchukretired in 1997 with 1,409 points (518 goals,891 assists) in 1,188 career regular-season games and another 99 points (30 goals and69 assists) in 97 career playoff tilts. He becamethe firstplayer inNHLhistory to skate in 1,000 games before he turned 31.

Although he moved away from Winnipeg, Hawerchuk'sroots remained deep in the Prairie soil. His wife, Crystal, is from the Arborgarea of Manitoba and the couple maintained an off-season cabin in Manitoba's Interlake region for many years.

They still return oftento visit her family.

"The vibe and the buzz is back in the city for sure. I really notice it when I go back now, especially from the years when they didn't have the team," Hawerchuk said about Winnipeg.

"It's exciting and well-deserved. It's a hockey market and they should have a team."

Hewill celebrate his induction on Tuesday with family, friends and some former teammates. The ceremony will take placebefore the Jets game against the Arizona Coyotes.

Although Hawerchuk was a Jet, he's actually an alumnus of the Coyotes franchise. The original Jets franchise relocated to Phoenix after the 1996 season.

Though he never played for the Coyotes, the team honoured its franchise star in 2007, when Hawerchukwas inducted into thePhoenix CoyotesRing of Honor and his No. 10 jersey was retired.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in2001and wasadded to theBuffaloSabres Hall of Fame in 2011.

He will be the fourth member of the Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame, joining the HOT Line of Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull and Ulf Nilsson, who were the inaugural inductees last season.

"I'm excited for the whole thing," he said about the banner that will be raised inside Bell MTSPlace, but added it doesn't list everyone who's responsible for his success.

"It's my name going up but there's some many people behind it that helped me along the way. It's a tribute to the Jets and the whole province."

The Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame was created "to honour the impact and accomplishments of the team's hockey legends and to celebrate the rich history of professional hockey" in Winnipeg, states a news release from the team.

As Winnipeg honours Hawerchuk, another former Jet is being recognizedfor his hockey career. On Monday night, Teemu Selanne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Selanne broke into the NHL and scored 76 goals in1992-93 with the Jets.It remains the league record for most goals by a rookie and earned him theCalder trophy.

Selanneretired in 2016 asthe highest-scoring Finn inNHLhistory,

He and Hawerchuk never played in the NHLtogether, but did suit up together in Jets colours as part of the outdoor Heritage Classic game in Winnipeg last year.