Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, ‘The Golden Jet,’ dies at 84

Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull owned a big shot and he was a big shot during an NHL career that spanned 23 years.

“He was huge when I was growing up in Canada,” said former NHL player Tom Laidlaw. “He was like the Mickey Mantle of hockey. He was a star player with personality. He was flamboyant.”

Hull, who starred on the ice but had controversies off it, has died at age 84, the NHL Alumni Association announced Monday.

He became the first in NHL history to score more than 50 goals in a season when he netted 54 in 1965-66. He got to 50 or more goals in five seasons for the Blackhawks and led the NHL in goals seven times.

Hull had 31 goals and 25 assists in his fourth season to help lead Chicago to the Stanley Cup championship in 1960-61, the Blackhawks’ first in 49 years.

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Many of his goals were scored on the strength of his strong skating and a booming slap shot that was made dangerous by the wickedly big curve he put on his stick.

“Guys weren’t using the size of the curve that Hull used in those days because at that time guys were still using their backhander to score goals,” said former NHL goalie Jim Rutherford, now president of the Vancouver Canucks. “With that big hook, it was hard to tell where the puck was going.”

Hull finished with 610 NHL goals, and he and his son Brett (741 goals) form the highest-scoring father-son tandem in NHL history. Both are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall, who played with and against the elder Hull, said the wing’s shot was the hardest he ever saw.

Said Rutherford: “He was at the level that guys are shooting at today, except he didn’t have the advantage of the modern sticks.”

Rutherford said Hull’s shots always reacted differently depending on how he struck them.

“Sometimes it would rise or drop or act like a knuckleball,” Rutherford said. “Sometimes it would curve. “

Hull also was known during his playing days for connecting with the fans. He always seemed to have time to sign autographs.

In a 2004 interview, Hull said when he was 10 he asked Gordie Howe for an autograph. Howe rubbed his head and signed the top of a cigarette package that the young Hull had gotten from his father. He said he always remembered Howe’s kindness.

“My mom used to say, ‘Don’t forget that fans are the most important people in this business,'” Hull said.

Jump to World Hockey Association

Hull played 15 seasons with Chicago before jumping to the Winnipeg Jets to play in the World Hockey Association in 1972-73 for a 10 year, $1 million deal, which was a stunning amount at the time In 1974-75, Hull, playing on a line with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, scored 77 goals in 78 games for Winnipeg.

“The reaction when Hull left was that it was too bad for the NHL, but all of us knew he was breaking new ground,” Rutherford said. “We got higher salaries because of that.”

After the NHL annexed the WHA, Hull ended up playing another 27 games in the NHL in 1979-80 before retiring.

Off-ice controversies

Hull also had several troubling episodes off the ice over the years.

According to the Associated Press, Hull was convicted of assaulting a police officer who intervened in a dispute with then-wife Deborah in 1986. He also was accused of battery, but that charge was dropped after Deborah told authorities she didn’t want to testify against her husband, a state attorney told the Chicago Tribune.

Hull’s second wife, Joanne, accused him of abuse during an interview with ESPN for a 2002 show.

A Russian newspaper reported in 1998 that Hull said Adolf Hitler “had some good ideas.” Hull denied making the comment, calling it “false and defamatory.”

Contributing: Associated Press

Robert Marvin ‘Bobby’ Hull

Born: Jan. 3, 1939, in Point Anne, Ontario, one of 11 children

the team dropped him from that role last year after the earlier deaths of Tony Esposito and Stan Mikita.

Quote: On curving the blade for the first time on his hockey stick, revolutionary at the time — “Poured hot water on it, from a tap, until it got soft and lithe. And then I’d shove it under a door at the Chicago Stadium and put a chair up, underneath the handle, and left it there all night. When I came back in the morning, it was just like this (forms the letter ‘C’ with his hands).” — From a 2010 interview with Canada’s National Post

Rachel Shuster

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