Hockey Hall of Famer, 12-time All-Star and two-time Hart Trophy winner Bobby Hull has died, the NHL Alumni Association has announced. He was 84 years old.
Hull, known during his playing career as the “Golden Jet” because of his blond hair and his speed on the ice, became highly regarded in Chicago for teaming up with Stan Mikita to help the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup in 1961, ending a 23-year drought.
Following Mikita’s lead, Hull rose to prominence bending the blade of his wooden bat in the 1960s and had one of the most feared slap shots in the league. His slap shot was reportedly timed at 118 miles per hour.
He played 15 seasons in Chicago and is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals scored with 604. For eight of those seasons, he played alongside his brother Dennis, who scored 298 goals with the Blackhawks. Bobby Hull won back-to-back Hart Trophies as the league’s most valuable player in 1964-65 and 1965-66, when he won the NHL’s leading scorer title for the third time in his career.
“Hull is part of an exclusive group of players who have had an indelible impact on our hockey club,” the Blackhawks said in a statement. Generations of Chicagoans have been blown away by Bobby’s unique shot, remarkable skating ability and leadership. “
“The Canadiens are saddened to learn of the passing of legendary NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Hull. A fierce competitor, natural scorer and hockey icon, Hull will be sorely missed. We send our condolences to his family, friends and former teammates,” the Montreal organization wrote on its official Twitter account.
In 1972, Hull signed the first million dollar contract in professional hockey history (10 years, $1.75 million), leaving the Blackhawks and NHL to join the Winnipeg Jets of the Association. World Hockey League (WHA) as a player/coach.
He played seven seasons in the WHA and helped the Jets win the Avco Cups in 1976 and 1978. He won two Gordie Howe trophies as the league’s most valuable player in 1972-73 and 1974-75 , a season in which he scored a career-high 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 traded 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 is also a Hall of Famer, inducted in 2009 after a 19-season career in which he scored 741 goals. Bobby and Brett Hull are the only father and son to have each won the Hart Trophy. They were also the only father and son named to the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017.
Bobby Hull’s number 9 is retired by the Blackhawks and Jets. The latter moved to Arizona in 1996 and were renamed the Coyotes, who also retired Hull’s number 9. The franchise retired the number in 2005 so Brett Hull could honor his father by wearing it.
Hull’s life off the ice has often been marred by controversy. He has faced domestic abuse allegations from two of his three wives. His second wife, figure skater Joanne McKay, claimed he held her over a balcony and hit her with a shoe during an incident in Hawaii in 1966 and threatened her with a loaded gun in 1978. His third wife, Deborah, sued after an incident in 1984, but later dropped the charges. Hull, however, pleaded guilty to striking an officer during his arrest and was sentenced to a $150 fine and six months of judicial supervision.
In 1998, Hull was criticized for telling the Moscow Times that the black population of the United States was growing too rapidly and that “Hitler had some good ideas” but had “gone a bit too far”.
The Blackhawks announced last year that Hull would no longer be the team’s ambassador. The team said it was redefining the role of team ambassador following the deaths of Mikita in 2018 and Tony Esposito in 2021.
