It was meaningful for Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff as well. He played his junior hockey in Brandon during Hawerchuk's time with the Jets. Cheveldayoff didn't get to many Jets games, simply because of the conflicting schedules in the WHL and NHL, but he remembered the Winnipeg Arena back then being just as raucous as Bell MTS Place these days.
"I'm a big believer in alumni with an organization. The players now should understand how important they are to the community, to themselves, and to each other," said Cheveldayoff. "Dale, the legacy he left in this organization and will continue to leave is something that is going to be special. Every single player that puts on a Jets jersey will know that they'll be remembered as part of the alumni."
One year after the Heritage weekend, the Jets inducted Hawerchuk into their Hall of Fame. This came one year after the inaugural class, which included the WHA 'Hot Line' of Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, and Bobby Hull.
"He was the first guy from the NHL chapter," Chipman said, adding he remembers the day he called Hawerchuk to tell him he was going in.
"For a guy who was already long ago inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was a modest response - but it wasn't," said Chipman. "He was overwhelmed, as he was often. He was touched by it."
As the franchise comes up on 10 years in Winnipeg, the relationship with the alumni is as strong as ever, thanks in large part to Hawerchuk's selflessness with his time.
"He was constantly saying 'what else can I do?' He did a lot of things for us, some of them public, some very quietly with some of our sponsors," said Chipman. "He was always available to us."
Perhaps that's why it was so important to Chipman and Heisinger to make sure Hawerchuk knew something else before he passed on August 18, 2020.
Plans were in the works to build a statue in his honour.
"When you see a statue, and when you see something that is immortalized forever, I think that truly shows how important this organization, these people, these players - and certainly a player like Dale - is and always will be to the city of Winnipeg," said Cheveldayoff. "I don't know if there's a better honour that an organization can bestow."