On June 13, 1987 the Washington Capitals acquired Dale Hunter in a trade from the Quebec Nordiques. He would be long connected to the organization as his number is hung from the rafters of Capital One Arena among the retired players. He even went on to coach briefly in the Alex Ovechkin era.
During his playing days Hunter went on to play for 12 seasons with the Capitals and served as team captain from 1994 to 1999. In the 1988 Patrick Division Semifinals between the Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers Hunter scored the biggest goal in Caps history at the time on a breakaway at 5:57 in overtime beating Flyers goalie Ron Hextall in Game 7 to give the Caps a 5-4 win to advance to the next round.
During the 1991-92 season his younger brother Mark played briefly in just seven games with he club. In the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals against the New York Islanders, Hunter led the Caps with seven playoff goals. But that play was short lived as he had to begin the next season suspended the first 21 games of 1993-94 for a hit on Pierre Turgeon.
In 1997, Hunter would suit up for the NHL All Star Game and during the 1997-98 season he saw more success with the Capitals as he helped guide them to the Eastern Conference title before being swept by the Detorit Red Wings.
Before that happened he broke the 1,000 points barrier and became the NHL record holder for requiring the most games to do so by a forward at 1,308 until Patrick Marleau broke it in his 1,349th game during the 2015-16 season. Hunter still holds the record for the player with the most penalty minutes to have scored 1,000 or more points.
1998 Stanley Cup Finals Run and the end of Hunter's playing days
In 1998 Hunter would lead the fourth seeded Capials to their first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals as they took down the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres. In the finals they got swept by the Detroit Red Wings with the first three games being decided by one goal.
The Red Wings were a dynasty at the time and were coming off a Stanley Cup win the prior season so it was a tall task at hand. Hunter's time with the Caps would end on the playing side in March 1999 as he was traded to his original franchise that is now renamed the Colorado Avalanche.
Hunter's sweater number 32 would be retired by the Capitals on March 11,2000 and during the ceremony the team presented Hunter with one of the penalty boxes from the old Capital Centre which was meant to be symbolic of the time he served in that very penalty box back when the Caps called home there before MCI Center now called Capital One Arena.