Dale McCourt

Lore & Background

McCourt played major junior in the Ontario Hockey Association. As a 15-year-old, he was already playing Tier II junior hockey when called up by the Sudbury Wolves for part of the 1972–73 OHA season. He joined the Hamilton Red Wings for the full 1973–74 OHA season, and was team captain by the time the Hamilton Fincups won the 1975–76 OMJHL Championship and then the national 1976 Memorial Cup championship. In 1976–77, McCourt led the relocated St. Catharines Fincups as the team won the OMJHL Regular Season Championship.

That season, McCourt was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the league's Most Outstanding Player and was voted the nationwide CHL Player of the Year. Dale was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the OMJHL's Most Sportsmanlike Player in both 1975–76 and 1976–77. In the 1977 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, McCourt scored 18 points, a Canadian record he shares with Brayden Schenn and one point more than Eric Lindros and Wayne Gretzky. McCourt was drafted 1st overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1977 NHL amateur draft.

He made an impression on the Detroit Red Wings after being the first NHL amateur pick in 1977. He successfully scored 33 goals in the first year with the team.

Reader's Guide

McCourt led the Red Wings in scoring during his 1977–78 rookie season, finishing second to Calder Memorial Trophy winner Mike Bossy for rookie scoring in the NHL that year. Before the start of the 1978–79 season, Red Wings general manager Ted Lindsay signed goaltender Rogatien Vachon of the Los Angeles Kings, who was a restricted free agent at that time. An NHL arbitrator ruled that McCourt should be the compensation given the Kings for Vachon's loss, but McCourt refused to report to the Kings.

Ultimately, this led to McCourt suing the NHL, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), the Red Wings, and the Kings to prevent being sent to the Los Angeles Kings as a part of any compensation package. During this lawsuit, McCourt remained playing for the Red Wings, finishing the season second in Red Wing scoring (by two points) for 1978-79. The matter was eventually resolved and McCourt remained in Detroit, but he felt betrayed by the fact that his own NHLPA, led by executive director Alan Eagleson, did not back him against the owners during the lawsuit.

His legal case created a huge impact on sport and was the first sports case to challenge the antitrust laws during the bargaining agreement. McCourt continued to be the Red Wings' top scorer in both his third (1979–80) and fourth (1980–81) seasons. Despite this, and while leading the team in scoring a third of the way through the 1981–82 season, management did not feel he had met their overall expectations and traded McCourt to the Buffalo Sabres in December 1981.

McCourt produced at a point-a-game pace during his time with the Red Wings but the team failed to make the playoffs for three of his four years. He played with Buffalo before being claimed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs in October 1983, finishing his NHL career at the end of the 1983–84 NHL season, with 478 points in 532 games played. McCourt then played eight seasons for HC Ambrì-Piotta in the top Swiss league. Ambrì-Piotta retired McCourt's number 15 jersey.

Did You Know?

• McCourt's brother Dan was an NHL linesman during the 1980s and early 1990s.
• McCourt's uncle is Hockey Hall of Fame member George Armstrong. Armstrong won the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHA's Most Outstanding Player in both 1947–48 and 1949–50, the same award that McCourt received in 1976–77.