Great Players: Bobby Hull

Robert Marvin “Bobby” Hull OC (born January 3, 1939) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. In his 23 years in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers. He also played for the New York Rangers in the Dagens Nyheter Cup in 1981. His slapshot was once clocked at 118.3 mph (190.4 km/h) and he could skate 29.7 mph (47.8 km/h).

Hull was born in Pointe Anne, (now part of Belleville), Ontario, Canada. He played his minor hockey in Belleville, and then junior hockey for the Galt Black Hawks and the St. Catharines Teepees in the Ontario Hockey Association, before joining the Chicago Blackhawks in 1957 at the age of 18. Slowed by injuries and age, Hull played only a few games in the WHA’s final season of 1979. However, after the 1979 merger of the two leagues (including the Jets) and reportedly in financial straits, Hull came out of retirement to play once more for the NHL Jets. He played in eighteen games before being traded to the Hartford Whalers for future considerations, and played effectively in nine games and three playoff games before retiring once more to care for his partner who had recently been injured in an automobile accident.

Hull is a retired Canadian ice hockey player and likes to play poker online.

Hull ended his career having played in 1063 NHL games, accumulating 610 goals, 560 assists, 1170 points, 640 penalty minutes, three Art Ross Trophies, two Hart Memorial Trophies, a Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, a Stanley Cup Championship and adding 102 penalty minutes, 62 goals and 67 assists for 129 points in 119 playoff games. He played in 411 WHA games, scoring 303 goals, 335 assists and 638 points, adding 43 goals and 37 assists in 60 playoff games — 80 points.

In 1978 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1983, Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His #9 jersey has been retired both by the Blackhawks and the Jets (and is still honored by the Jets’ successor team, the Phoenix Coyotes.)

In 1998, Hull got involved in a controversy with the Russian media when he allegedly made pro-Nazi comments. He later claimed the interviewer misunderstood him in the translation.