Tuesday, August 7 Hunter played each game with emotion and desire By Al Morganti Special to ESPN.com

The MCI Center will be filled on Saturday night, and only part of the attraction will be the revitalized Capitals playing the New Jersey Devils. The other attraction will be a link to the club's past when the number 32 jersey worn by Dale Hunter will be retired.

	Dale Hunter retired quietly, but he'll be honored on Saturday.

After a career which spanned two decades, from 1980 through 1999, Hunter retired after last season, taking his final strides in the NHL as member of the Colorado Avalanche.

The trade to the Avalanche was a favor by Washington GM George McPhee who granted Hunter a wish at last season's trade deadline, and sent Hunter for a chance at the Cup with Colorado.

It did not work out, and Hunter finished among the list of most capable NHL players to retire without having won the Cup. Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins is the latest to make the trek to Colorado to end a career with his name on the Cup, but even if he doesn't get the ring, it will not diminish the career.

Of course, Bourque is a certain Hall of Fame player. Hunter?

Well, let's just say that if you got a place in the Hall of Fame based on effort and sheer will to win, Hunter will be accorded a spot -- probably in a corner, a part of the rink where Hunter never feared to tread.

"I guess the reason you play the game is to get a shot at the Cup," said Hunter on Thursday morning. "Like everybody else, when I was a kid, I played on the pond, on the rinks, and pretended to win the Cup. For me, it never happened. But I think when people think back on my career they'll realize that I got everything I could out of my talents."

That is the message Hunter is trying to impart to the Caps prospects this season.

He was hired by McPhee to serve as a sort of roaming instructor, taking trips to various sights in the junior leagues, colleges, and minor leagues to work one-on-one with some of the Caps' prospects. He also does some pro scouting, and generally keeps his nose in the game.

Recently, his name has been revived in terms of punishment. When Marty McSorley was handed the minimum of 23-game suspension for his transgressions against Donald Brashear, the next name you always read or heard was that of Hunter who got 21 games for hitting Pierre Turgeon in 1993.

"I guess records were made to be broken," said Hunter with a light touch. "But I can feel for Marty, and understand the NHL. We are both guys who played with emotion, and there are times that emotion gets the better of you."

It is hardly an excuse, but it should be a reminder that the sort of emotion which drove Hunter and McSorley is from the same emotional power play which allows a player of lesser skills to make a huge impact on the game.

Overall, Hunter played in over 1,400 regular season games, and accumulated over 3,500 minutes in penalties to go along with 323 goals and 1020 points. In the playoffs he scored 118 points in 186 games.

In each and every game, he was playing as if the Stanley Cup was on the line. Most of those games were played for the Caps, after getting traded from Quebec after the 1986-87 season, and his number will rightfully be retired on Saturday night.

Without Bourque, Philly continues to deal
The Philadelphia Flyers were the supposed front runners in the race to get Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque, only to see him wind up with the Colorado Avalanche.

As expected, the Flyers tried to get over the sting by pursuing other veterans, and quickly struck the deal with Phoenix which brought Rick Tocchet back to Philly for Mikael Renberg.

You can now expect the Flyers to make several calls around the league to land both a goalie and a defenseman by next Tuesday's trade deadline. There will be a return call to Phoenix for Nick Khabibulin, and Montreal for Jeff Hackett.

There will also be a call to Tampa Bay for former Flyer defenseman Petr Svoboda.

The parade of ex-Flyers coming back to Philly never seems to end. Since general manager Bob Clarke made his own return trip to Philly in 1996, the following is a list of ex-Flyers he had brought back to town:

Tocchet, Mark Recchi, Renberg, Karl Dykhuis, Kerry Huffman, Ron Hextall, Jody Hull, Craig Berube, Dan Quinn, and Steve Duchesne. You can also add to that list a side list of players and coach's Clarke re-acquired when he also considered he was general manager of the Florida Panthers before coming back to Philly.

How about coach Roger Neilson, assistant coach Craig Ramsey (now acting as head coach) and goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Let's just say that if a player lands in the Flyers organization and plays for Clarke for any length of time he might as well buy a house and forget about renting, because eventually he'll find his way back to town.

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