Brett Hull
Brett Andrew Hull is a Canadian–American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. He played for the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Phoenix Coyotes between 1986 and 2005. His career total of 741 goals is fifth highest in NHL history, and he is one of five players to score 50 goals in 50 games. He was a member of two Stanley Cup winning teams — 1999 with the Dallas Stars and 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings. In 2017, Hull was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Known as one of the game's greatest snipers, Hull was an elite scorer at all levels of the game. He played college hockey for the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, where he scored 52 goals in 1985–86. He scored 50 the following year with the Moncton Golden Flames of the American Hockey League and had five consecutive NHL seasons of at least 50 goals. His 86 goals in 1990–91 is the third-highest single-season total in NHL history, with the first two being the same person, Wayne Gretzky. Hull won the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award that year as the league's most valuable player. He was named a first team all-star on three occasions and played in eight NHL All-Star Games.
Having dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, Hull was eligible to play for the United States internationally and chose to join the American National Team. He was a member of the team that won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and was a two-time Olympian, winning a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, joining his father Bobby Hull. They are the first father-son combination to each score either of 600 goals or 1,000 career points in the NHL. Hull's nickname, "the Golden Brett" is a reference to his father's nickname of "the Golden Jet". His jersey number 16 was retired by the St. Louis Blues in 2006.
Early life
Hull was born August 9, 1964, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. His father, Bobby, was a long-time professional hockey player in both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association. His mother, Joanne, was an American professional figure skater and taught him how to skate. He has three brothers, Bobby Jr., Blake, and Bart, and a younger sister, Michelle. Bart played professional football in the Canadian Football League. His uncle Dennis was also a longtime NHL player.As his father played for the NHL's Chicago Black Hawks, Hull spent his early life in Illinois, and he first played organized hockey in the Chicago area at age four. He and his brothers often skated with the Black Hawks where they watched their father play. The family moved back to Canada when Bobby signed with the original Winnipeg Jets, then in the WHA, in 1972. As a youth, Hull and teammate Richard Kromm played in the 1977 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Winnipeg South Monarchs minor ice hockey team. He moved to Vancouver with his mother and two youngest siblings shortly before his parents' acrimonious divorce in 1979. Hull was not close to his father following the breakup, though the two spoke periodically.
Playing career
Junior and college
Admitting that he was viewed as a "pudgy, fun-loving, music-crazed bum" in his youth, Hull stated in his autobiography that he was not surprised when he failed to attract the attention of a junior team. He was first eligible for the NHL Entry Draft in 1982, but as he was still playing in a juvenile league, was passed over without interest. He joined the Penticton Knights of the tier-II British Columbia Junior Hockey League in the 1982–83 season where he scored 48 goals in 50 games. He was again passed over at the 1983 Entry Draft as teams remained unconvinced of his commitment to the game and his conditioning. NHL teams finally took notice of Hull following his 1983–84 season in which he scored 105 goals in 56 games and broke the BCJHL scoring record with 188 points. The Calgary Flames selected him in the sixth round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, 117th overall.Hull accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and in 1984–85, scored 32 goals as a freshman. The power of his shot terrorized goaltenders. He was awarded the Jerry Chumola Award as the school's rookie of the year and received similar honors from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. His coaches at Minnesota-Duluth impressed on Hull the need to improve his skating, and in 1985–86, he broke the school record of 49 goals in one season, reaching 52 that year. Hull was named the WCHA first-team all-star at right wing and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In his two seasons at UMD, Hull set numerous school scoring records. He holds the records for most goals by a rookie and most goals in one season. His 20 power play goals, seven hat tricks, and 13 multiple-goal games in 1985–86 are all records, and he shares the school's single-game playoff record of four goals. The school retired his jersey number 29 in 2006.
Calgary Flames (1986–88)
Choosing to turn professional following his sophomore season, Hull signed a contract with the Calgary Flames and joined the team during the 1986 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He made his NHL debut on May 20, 1986, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Montreal Canadiens. His best scoring opportunity came when he hit the post in his first shift of the game. He appeared in two games of the Flames' five-game series loss to Montreal.The Flames assigned Hull to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Moncton Golden Flames, for the majority of the 1986–87 season. He scored 50 goals, tying an AHL rookie record, and his 93 points was third-best in the league. He won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the league's Rookie of the Year and was named to the First All-Star Team, earning a brief recall to Calgary during the season. He made his regular-season debut on November 13, 1986, against the Hartford Whalers and scored his first NHL goal against Steve Weeks on a breakaway. It was the game-winning goal in a 4–3 victory. Hull appeared in five regular-season games for the Flames and played in four playoff games, where he scored two goals and added an assist.
Hull earned a spot on the Flames for the 1987–88 season, though the team continued to work with him on his conditioning. He appeared in 52 games for the Flames, scoring 26 goals and 50 points. He did not finish the season in Calgary, however. On March 7, 1988, Hull was traded with Steve Bozek to the St. Louis Blues for defenseman Rob Ramage and goaltender Rick Wamsley.
St. Louis Blues (1988–98)
Hull led St. Louis with 41 goals in, but his poor skating and inattention to his defensive responsibilities concerned the club. Head coach Brian Sutter convinced Hull to improve his conditioning over the summer. He arrived to begin the season in much better shape and showed a marked improvement in his skating. Center Adam Oates, acquired over the summer, joined Hull on the top line. The pair, dubbed "Hull and Oates" as a play on the band Hall and Oates, were prolific scorers with Oates being an excellent passer and Hull being an excellent shooter. Hull scored 228 goals between 1989–90 and, the second-highest three-season total of any player in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky's 250 tallies between and. He became the fifth player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games in,—joining Maurice Richard, Mike Bossy, Gretzky, and Mario Lemieux—then repeated the feat in 1991–92.He led the league in goal scoring all three seasons and was named to the first All-Star team each year. He collected numerous league awards, winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1990 as the league's most sportsmanlike player, then in 1991, won the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL's most valuable player as selected by the league and his fellow players respectively. His total of 86 goals in 1990–91 is the third highest for a single season in NHL history, after Gretzky's 92 goals in 1981–82 and 87 in 1983–84. Oates left the Blues midway through the 1991–92 season, and while Hull's offensive production dropped, he remained the Blues' top offensive threat. He recorded his fourth and fifth consecutive 50-goal seasons, scoring 54 in and 57 in.
Hull clashed with head coach Mike Keenan, who joined the team in, primarily over the latter's changes to team personnel. Hull, who had been named team captain in 1992, was stripped of the captaincy. By early 1996, the two were publicly criticizing each other in the media. Forced to choose between the player and coach, the Blues fired Keenan on December 19, 1996. Hull responded three nights later with a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings to reach 500 goals for his NHL career. He and Bobby are the only father-son pair who both reached that total.
After 43- and 42-goal seasons in and, Hull scored 27 in. He became an unrestricted free agent following the season after rejecting a three-year, $15 million offer from the Blues because the team refused to include a no-trade clause. He left St. Louis, signing a three-year, $17 million contract with the Dallas Stars on July 2, 1998.
Dallas Stars (1998–2001)
Hull reached 1,000 points in his career when he notched a goal and an assist in a 3–1 victory with the Dallas Stars over the Boston Bruins on November 14, 1998. He then scored his 600th goal on December 31, 1999, in a 5–4 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. He scored 32 goals in 1998–99 despite struggling with a groin injury for much of the season. The Stars reached the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, against the Buffalo Sabres. The sixth game of the series went to overtime tied 1–1 while Dallas held a 3–2 series lead. At 14:51 of the third overtime period, Hull collected a rebound in front of the Buffalo net and put the puck past goaltender Dominik Hašek to win the game, and the Stanley Cup, for Dallas.The Sabres immediately protested the goal, as NHL rules of the time stated that a player could not score a goal if any part of his body was within the goal crease. Replays showed that Hull's skate was within the crease when he scored, however, the NHL ruled that he had possession of the puck prior to entering the crease, making the goal legal. League officials stated that that very scenario was addressed in a memo sent to the league's on-ice officials prior to the start of the playoffs. Hull himself states the goal was legal, supporting the claim that the NHL had altered the rules in a private memo sent to all teams but not released to the public. Media, fans and players across the league remain divided on the goal, some claiming that the league altered the rule after the fact. It remains especially controversial in Buffalo, where fans and former players continue to maintain that the play should have been ruled "no goal". The NHL formally abolished the crease rule prior to the next season, allowing players to score from within the crease freely as long as they did not interfere with the goaltender.
As a member of the Stars in their Stanley Cup winning season, Hull wore number 22, as his customary number 16 was worn by Pat Verbeek. Hull switched back to number 16 the following season after Verbeek left the team as a free agent. Though he appeared in 79 games in 1999–2000, Hull had what coach Ken Hitchcock called "a disappointing season", struggling defensively and scoring only 24 goals. His offensive production improved in the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs as he led the league in post-season scoring with 10 goals and 23 points. The Stars again reached the finals, but lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils. Hull scored 39 goals in 2000–01, his best total in four years. He surpassed his father's career total when he scored his 611th goal in a 3–1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 10, 2000. Hull played his 1,000th career game on February 25, 2001, in Calgary.