Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, 12-time All-Star and two-time Hart Trophy, has passed away. Chicago Blackhawks second publication. He was 84 years old.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to the Hull family,” the team said in a statement. “The Hull family has asked for privacy during this difficult time. They appreciate the sympathy that has been sent to them.”
Hull, known during his playing career as the Golden Jet for his blonde hair and speed on the ice, is beloved in Chicago for teaming up with Stan Mikita to help the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup this year. 1961, ending a 23-year title drought. .
Following Mikita’s lead, Hull was known for his wooden blade bends in the 1960s and had one of the league’s scariest slaps. His slap is said to have hit 118 mph.
He played 15 seasons in Chicago and was the franchise’s career leader in goals scored at 604. During those 8 seasons, he played alongside his brother Dennis, who scored 298. goals for the Blackhawks. Bobby Hull won the Hart Memorial Cup consecutively as the tournament’s most valuable player in 1964–65 and 1965–66, when he won his third NHL goalscorer title. me.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in a statement called Hull “a true superstar with a gregarious personality.”
Bettman said: “As Bobby Hull was about to take a shot, fans all over the NHL stood up and waited and the opposing goalkeepers braced themselves. “During his prime, no player scored more goals in all of hockey. … We send our deepest condolences to his son, co-player. Hockey Hall of Famer Brett team; the entire Hull family; and countless hockey fans around the world who were lucky enough to see him play or have since been in awe of his feats. he.”
In 1972, Hull signed the first $1 million contract in professional hockey history (10 years, $1.75 million), for the Blackhawks and NHL to join the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets as players. player / coach.
He played seven seasons in the WHA and helped the Jets win the Avco Cup in 1976 and 1978. He won two Gordie Howe Cups as the tournament’s most valuable player in 1972-73. and 1974-75, the season in which he scored the best goal of his career. 77 goals.
He announced his retirement during the 1978–79 season but decided to return the following season after the WHA merged with the NHL. He played 18 games with the Jets in 1979-80 and was transferred to the Hartford Whalers, playing nine games for the team before retiring again.
Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. His son Brett was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2009 after 19 career seasons in which he scored 741 goals. win. Bobby and Brett Hull are the only father and son to ever win the Hart Trophy. They are also the only father and son named among the 100 Greatest NHL Players of 2017.
In a statement issued by Saint Louis Blueswith whom he works as an ambassador, Brett Hull said his father has brought back his family and others “so many great memories.”
Brett Hull said: “Those of us lucky enough to spend time with him will treasure those things forever. He will be missed.”
Bobby Hull ranks in the top 3 for goals scored in 10 NHL seasons, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. Only Gordie Howe (12) and Alex Ovechkin (11) there are many such cases.
Hull’s No. 9 was retired by the Blackhawks and Jets. That Winnipeg franchise moved to Arizona in 1996 and was renamed coyotewho also retired Hull’s No. 9. The Coyotes dropped the number in 2005 so Brett Hull could honor his father by wearing it.
Bobby Hull has had 610 goals and 560 assists in 1,063 regular-season NHL games. In addition to his two Hart Titles, he has also won three times the Art Ross Trophy awarded to the tournament leader in points and took home the 1965 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for athleticism combined with outstanding play. sharp.
Although Hull starred on the tape, he faced legal and family issues in his personal life.
He faces domestic abuse charges from two of his three wives. His second wife, figure skater Joanne McKay, alleges that in 1966 he carried her on a balcony in Hawaii and beat her with his shoes and in 1978 threatened her with a shotgun. loaded ammunition. His third wife, Deborah, filed the charges following an incident in 1984 but later dropped them. However, Hull later pleaded guilty to beating an officer during his arrest and was fined $150 and placed under six-month house arrest in court.
In 1998, Hull was fired to tell the Moscow Times that the Black population in the United States was growing too quickly and that “Hitler had some good ideas” but “went a little too far.”
The Blackhawks announced last year that Hull would no longer be the team’s ambassador. The group said it is redefining the group’s ambassador role after Mikita’s death in 2018 and Tony Esposito’s death in 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
