Bobby Hull, the first NHLer to score over 50 goals in a season, dies at 84

Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84.

He played for Chicago and Hartford of the NHL as well as the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets over a 23-year pro career. The Chicago organization confirmed his death Monday.

In 1961, he helped lead Chicago to its first Stanley Cup in 23 years, and is 55th on the NHL's all-time scoring list with 610 goals and 560 assists. He also had 303 goals and 335 assists in the WHA for combined 913 goals in both leagues in 1,474 games.

To put that into context, Wayne Gretzky has a combined total of 940 goals in both leagues over 1,567 games, although all but 80 of those were in the NHL.

His 604 goals with Chicago remain a team record.

"Hull is part of an elite group of players who made a historic impact on our hockey club," the club said in a statement. "Generations of Chicagoans were dazzled by Bobby's shooting prowess, skating skill and overall team leadership."

WATCH | The National: Former NHLer Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84:

NHL legend Bobby Hull dead at 84

1 year ago

Duration 2:07

Former NHLer Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84. On the ice, he was tough and unstoppable over a 23-year pro-career, but his personal life was marred by domestic abuse allegations and controversial comments.

Hull was the first player in NHL history to score more than 50 goals in a single season. He set the record of 54 in 1966 and broke it by four goals a couple of seasons later.

Along with Chicago teammate Stan Mikita he helped popularize the curved hockey stick blade in the NHL. He would first soak the wooden blade, bend it under a door and leave it overnight. It made Hull's slapshot, clocked at close to 200 kilometres per hour, even harder for a goalie to stop.

WATCH | Hull on leaving Chicago, playing in the WHA and his son, Brett:

Bobby Hull in 1977 on playing hockey in the WHA

47 years ago

Duration 12:49

Hockey star Bobby Hull of the World Hockey Association is interviewed by Peter Gzowski on CBC-TV's 90 Minutes Live. Aired Feb. 25, 1977.

His defection to Winnipeg of the WHA in 1972 was the catalyst that helped shatter the NHL's stranglehold on players. It also started the escalation of salaries that now make Hull's once record-setting million-dollar payday look like small change.

There were plenty of hard feelings at the time on both sides, but in 2011 a statue of Hull was erected alongside one of Mikita outside the United Center, where Chicago now plays.

"I never, ever thought in 100 years I'd ever be standing here tonight," Hull said at the unveiling.

Top NHL scorer 7 times

Robert Marvin Hull Jr., was born Jan. 3, 1939 in Pointe Anne, Ont., now part of the city of Belleville, and was 12 when he was first scouted by Chicago. He started playing with the team in 1957 at 18.

He was regarded as the fastest skater in the NHL and led the league in scoring seven times in the 1960s. When he left the NHL in 1972 for the WHA, he was second on the all-time scoring list behind only Gordie Howe, and Howe had been in the league for an extra decade.

"It was sort of a dream that came true," said Joe Daley, Hull's teammate on the Jets who is from the Winnipeg area. "You always hope that you get a chance to have wonderful teammates, and I got lucky in having him here.

"Certainly, what he brought to Winnipeg and the way he conducted himself with every fan in every city, it was amazing to see."

Although not large by today's standards (five-foot-10 and just under 190 pounds), the muscular Hull was not afraid to scrap. In 1966, when he set his first scoring record, he also had 70 penalty minutes in 65 games.

In an era when few players worked out in the off-season, Hull stayed in shape throwing around bales of hay on his farm, which led to a still iconic black and white photo of the shirtless Hull in action, a bale on the end of his pitchfork.

In 1978, Hull was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and his No. 9 jersey was retired by Chicago and the old Winnipeg Jets (who moved to Phoenix in 1996 and became the Coyotes before the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011 and reclaimed the Jets name).

Son Brett became a star and Hall of Famer in his own right as a star scorer with St. Louis and Dallas and is 25th on the NHL's all-time scoring list.

Bobby and Brett each won the Hart Trophy as league MVP, becoming the first father-son duo to accomplish the feat. Bobby won in 1964-65 and 1965-1966, while Brett won in 1990-1991.

In a statement released by the St. Louis Blues, for whom he works as an ambassador, Brett said his father gave his family and others "a tremendous amount of great memories."

"Those of us who were lucky enough to spend time with him will cherish those forever,"Brett said. "He will be greatly missed."

Hull renewed ties with the the Jets after their return to Winnipeg.

"I was lucky enough I actually got to meet Bobby Hull. He was an awesome guy to meet," Jets forward Mark Scheifele said. "Obviously, a moment that I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

"He was a guy that revolutionized the game and was one of the stars and made hockey what it is today. So we wouldn't be where we are without him."

Scheifele called Hull a Winnipeg "legend."

"He always will be," Scheifele said. "He's something that made hockey what it is in the world, and especially in Winnipeg. Obviously, his legacy will always be there forever."

Bobby Hull helped Chicago return to the top of the NHL after it was one of the worst teams in the league for years before his debut during the 1957-58 season. He had 13 goals and 34 assists in his first campaign with the team, finishing second in the Calder Trophy race for rookie of the year.

During his prime, there was no more prolific goal-scorer in all of hockey.— NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Bobby Hull

It was a steady rise from there. Hull posted 13 consecutive seasons with 30 goals or more from 1959-72, becoming a perennial fixture at the all-star game and a regular candidate for the league's top awards.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in a statement called Hull "a true superstar with a gregarious personality."

"When Bobby Hull wound up to take a slapshot, fans throughout the NHL rose to their feet in anticipation and opposing goaltenders braced themselves," Bettman said. "During his prime, there was no more prolific goal-scorer in all of hockey.

WATCH | Hull scores 1,000th goal in Jets' WHA win in 1978:

From the CBC vault: Bobby Hull scores 1000th goal

9 years ago

Duration 4:45

In this exclusive CBC footage from 1978, long-time Canadian sportscaster Scott Oake gives a recap of Bobby Hull's 1000th career goal.

High-profile disputes over money

"We send our deepest condolences to his son, fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Brett; the entire Hull family; and the countless fans around the hockey world who were fortunate enough to see him play or have since marvelled at his exploits."

Hull said he loved his years in Chicago and the fans, but the organization didn't love him as much. He resented what he was paid, as did many in the league at that time, and got into high-profile disputes over money with the Wirtz family that owned the team.

In 1972, he became the linchpin around which the WHA was formed and the first hockey player to earn a million dollars, his signing bonus for joining the new league with the Jets.

Although some resented him for the leap, Mikita once said he got down on his knees and thanked his former teammate and the Jets — his salary doubled almost overnight because of the competition.

Integral part of WHA's Jets

But the move cost Hull a chance to play in the 1972 Summit Series when the NHL refused to let him join Team Canada. He made up for it in 1974, when a team of Canadians from the WHA met the Soviet Union in a second Summit Series, and again when he played in the 1976 Canada Cup.

Nicknamed The Golden Jet for his speed and blond hair (even before he joined the Jets), Hull spent eight seasons with the team, the last in the NHL, and helped make them one of the strongest clubs in the WHA. They won three Avco Cups, the league's ultimate prize, in the seven years it was awarded, and were runners-up twice.

Hull played only part of the final Jets' final WHA season in 1978-79, and returned only briefly the next season when Winnipeg joined the NHL as the two leagues merged. He moved to the Whalers, who also jumped to the NHL, for nine games that same season.

He was 42 when he made a brief comeback attempt with the New York Rangers in 1981 before finally hanging up his skates.

Hull could be aggressive and controversial off the ice.

An acrimonious divorce from his second wife of 20 years, Joanne, which included numerous allegations of abuse, cost him a stake he owned in the original Jets.

He returned to farming/ranching during the early years of his time away from hockey and then settled in Florida with third wife Deborah.

Hull was convicted of assaulting a police officer who intervened in a dispute with 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.

However, the police officer who Hull took a swing at during the investigation did not drop charges and Hull was fined $150 and placed on six months court supervision.

He stoked more controversy when in 1998 he told the Moscow Times, an English-language newspaper, the Nazis were not without merit, the Black population of the United States was growing too fast and genetic breeding was a worthy idea.

"Hitler, for example, had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far," Hull, who was visiting Russia, was quoted as saying.

Chicago brought him back as a team ambassador in 2008 and he was on hand for its 2010 Stanley Cup win, the club's first since 1961.

The franchise announced in February 2022 that Hull had retired from any official team role, calling it a joint decision.

"Bobby Hull will always be remembered as one of the greatest [Chicago NHL team] players of all time. He was a beloved member of the [Chicago NHL team] family," team owner Rocky Wirtz said in a statement.