Despicable act of vandalism on the Dale Hawerchuk statue outside the Canada Life Centre

Hawerchuk was an iconic and not just in Winnipeg. He was the first ever draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1981. He played for the Jets until 1990 when he then played mostly for the Buffalo Sabres with two short stops in St. Louis and Philadelphia during his career.

Hawerchuk's hall of fame career saw him tally 1,409 points (518G, 891A) over the course of 17 seasons in the NHL with 1,188 games played.

So to see any type of vandalism on his statue is just a disgrace. Acts of vandalism and has been common around the city of Winnipeg recently and this iconic statue was not immune to it. A fan on X posted this picture, said to be the vandalism.

With crime on the rise, it is unfortunate that a symbol such as this statue was a part of this. Hawerchuk was one of the best players to wear a Jets sweater, and outside of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, could be considered one of the best in the 80's.

In 2019 Hawerchuk was diagnosed with cancer, and after a short battle with the disease, passed away in 2020. He will always be remembered in the city of Winnipeg as their top player as well as the standard for a NHLer. His contributions to the game will never go unnoticed.

The vandalism has been cleaned up shortly after it was done and luckily there was no permanent damage to the statue. But this behavior should not be tolerated in any city.

As Read On: Blade of Steel -
Statue of Dale Hawerchuk vandalized outside Canada Life Centre