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Washington Capitals: Top 10 toughest players of all-time

By Michael Marzzacco

Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Dale Hunter, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Craig Melvin /Allsport
Dale Hunter, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Craig Melvin /Allsport /

#2 Dale Hunter

I’ll start off by providing this excerpt of Dale Hunter from Mike Vogel of WashingtonCaps.com:

"“Throughout the years, win or lose, regardless of personnel, one thing has remained fairly constant about the Capitals. If you’re the opposing team and you’re going up against the Caps, you know you’re in for a struggle from the opening faceoff to the final horn. That’s how Dale Hunter played it every night—1,407 times over 19 seasons.”"

Hunter suffered a severe leg and ankle injury during the 1986-87 season in what would be his final season with the Quebec Nordiques. Quebec shipped him to the Caps that summer. Despite still being in a lot of pain from the previous season, Hunter only missed one game in his first season with the Caps. He recorded 59 points and 240 penalty minutes.

Hunter ranked second in NHL history with 3,565 penalty minutes according to NHL.com. He is also the only player with 3,000 career penalty minutes to go along with 1,000 points.

Steve Konowalchuk spoke highly of Hunter to Vogel:

"“When I think of him, I think of him always being involved in the game, being tough and being there and sticking up for you all the time. You always felt safe and ready to go to battle playing together.”"

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