Brett Hull

Brett Andrew Hull (born August 9, 1964 in Belleville, Ontario) is a former NHL player, the current interim co-general manager of the Dallas Stars, and the son of legendary player Bobby Hull and nephew of Dennis Hull. Though in the earliest years of his career few saw him as a potential star, the colorful and often outspoken Hull announced his retirement on October 15, 2005 with 741 career goals, placing him third on the all-time list. He played for the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes. He may also be best remembered for scoring the controversial Stanley Cup winning goal on Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek in 1999 to give Dallas their first and only Cup win. Hull also won the Cup as a member of the Red Wings in 2002.

Youth
One very early hockey milestone worth note is Brett's (along with his Winnipeg South Monarchs team) winning of the prestigious Quebec Winter Carnaval Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament in 1977.

Junior
Brett Hull was drafted out of the Junior A British Columbia Junior Hockey League's Penticton Knights as the 117th overall pick (sixth round) in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames. Hull then played two years of U.S. college hockey for the University of Minnesota-Duluth before turning pro during the 1986 NHL playoffs. Even at this very early stage of his career, Brett could rifle a slapshot that sparked fear in young goaltenders. One honorary attendee at the championship game, Jean Beliveau (a 10 time Stanley Cup champion with the Montreal Canadiens) visited the Winnipeg dressing room just to meet 'the young Hull'. Brett spent most of the 1986-87 season with the minor league Moncton Golden Flames, being named to the AHL's First All-Star Team and receiving the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the league's top rookie, before being recalled to the NHL for good in the 1987-88 NHL season. On March 7, 1988, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues, for whom he played most of his career.

The Blues
While in St. Louis, Hull developed into a prolific goal scorer with linemate Adam Oates in the 89-90 season and the duo were dubbed "Hull and Oates" (a pun on the well-known musical duo of Hall & Oates). In Hull’s best season, 1990-91, he scored 86 goals, the third highest mark ever recorded in one season, also setting a new record for right wingers in goals. That year he was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player.

Following the 1991-92 NHL season, the St. Louis Blues traded Adam Oates to the Boston Bruins for Craig Janney. Although talented, Janney was not of the same caliber as the highly skilled Oates. Hull's production dropped off and he said he was never the same player without Oates.

Though Hull's play declined during the remainder of his term with the Blues, he continued to be a perennial all-star and averaged more than one point per game in each of his seasons in St. Louis. Both of his career four-goal games came with the Blues; first on April 16, 1995 against Detroit during a hat giveaway promotion, and again on October 10, 1995, during the 1995-96 home opener against Edmonton, both of which were wins. He also went on to score his 500th goal in a December 22, 1996 win over the Los Angeles Kings, in which his milestone goal also capped a hat trick.



The Stars
Hull played eleven seasons for the Blues before signing with the Dallas Stars as a free agent before the 1998-99 NHL season. During his initial season, his traditional jersey number, 16, was being worn by Stars forward Pat Verbeek, so Hull wore number 22 for that season, switching back to 16 in the 1999 offseason after Verbeek left the team. He helped the Stars capture the Stanley Cup that season, scoring what many consider to be a controversial Cup-winning goal off his own rebound in the third overtime period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals against Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek. Video replay showed that Hull's skate was in the crease, which the Sabres argued was a violation of a rule then in effect that disallowed goals if an offensive player was in the goal crease. The goal was reviewed as the Stars celebrated on the ice, but was allowed to stand by the video review officials, who ruled that Hull's three consecutive shots on Hasek, the third of which went in, constituted possession of the puck through to the end of the play (the rule allowed for a player to bring the puck into the crease and score). The legality of the goal is still debated, and it is arguably the most disputed Cup-winning goal in NHL history. The crease interference rule, which was introduced in 1997 amid widespread criticism, was eliminated the following season. Hull and Hasek later won the Stanley Cup as teammates in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Red Wings
In 2001, Hull joined the Red Wings as a free-agent. Like Verbeek two years prior, Hull did not ask for jersey number 16, which the Wings had removed from circulation out of respect for Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career had ended in a limousine accident six days after the Wings' 1997 Stanley Cup victory. For his three seasons in Detroit, Hull wore number 17, and he continued to play strongly. After participating in the 2002 Winter Olympics, earning a silver medal with Team USA, Hull played a key role in the Wings' 2002 Cup victory, scoring 10 goals en route to his second Cup. Hull would eventually pair up with young Red Wings stars Pavel Datsyuk and Boyd Devereaux on a line Hull would dub "Two Kids and a Goat".

The Coyotes
On August 6, 2004, Hull signed a two-year, $4.5 million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes, who un-retired his father’s jersey for him. Bobby Hull's #9 jersey had been originally retired by the franchise on February 19, 1989, when they were still the Winnipeg Jets. The first year of the contract was nullified by the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and some argue the time off damaged Hull's game irreparably; when hockey restarted in 2005-06, Hull played only 5 games with the Coyotes before, dissatisfied with his performance, he announced his retirement on October 15, 2005.

Retirement
The University of Minnesota-Duluth retired his #29 jersey on February 3, 2006, and later that same year, on December 5, 2006, the St. Louis Blues retired his #16. The Blues also changed the name of the stretch of Clark Avenue, the street that Scottrade Center between 14th and 15th Streets in St. Louis, to "Brett Hull Way" and have also announced plans to number the road such that the arena will be number 16. In a recent interview during Hockey Night in Canada, Hull was quoted as saying that he would never coach hockey. He also said the best big-game goalie he ever played with was Ed Belfour, during his time in Dallas, and that the best offensive defensemen he had played with were Sergei Zubov and Nicklas Lidstrom. The player he said he hated to play against was Chris Chelios. The coaches he said he liked the most were Ken Hitchcock and Scotty Bowman. The person that he said he disliked the most was Mike Keenan.

Brett Hull is currently serving the Dallas Stars as the team's special adviser to hockey operations. At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Hull has returned to the Dallas Stars in a front-office role as special assistant to team president Jim Lites, identifying himself in Dallas Stars television commercials as the team's self-proclaimed "Ambassador of Fun", as well as "Campaign Manager" for Stars players hoping to be voted to the 2007 All Star Game, to be held in Dallas. Hull also answers fan-submitted questions in a weekly editoral entitled "Brett's Bites" on DallasStars.com, and is a part-time television and radio analyst for the Stars, and a studio analyst for the NHL on NBC. He also does a weekly radio segment on Dallas sports-talk station KTCK.

On November 11, 2007, Stars' owner Tom Hicks fired Doug Armstrong as general manager and later named Hull and Les Jackson as interim co-general managers.

Personal life
He married fellow University of Minnesota-Duluth student Alison Curran in Las Vegas on May 27, 1997. They had three children - Jude, Jayde, and Crosby - before they divorced. Hull married longtime girlfriend Darcie Schollmeyer on July 21, 2006 in Cabo San Lucas.

Career achievements and facts

 * Finished his career with 741 goals (3rd all-time), 650 assists (48th all-time), 1391 points (19th all-time) and 1269 games (43rd all-time).
 * Named a NHL First Team All-Star in 1990, 1991 and 1992.
 * Won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1990.
 * Won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1991.
 * Won the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1991.
 * Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2001.
 * Scored 50 goals in 50 games twice in his career; only Wayne Gretzky, with three 50-50 seasons, has done it more often, and he and Gretzky are the only ones to do it more than once.
 * Won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award in 1987.
 * Recorded 33 career Hat Tricks (4th all-time).
 * Led the NHL in Goals scored in 1990, 1991, and 1992.
 * All-time career leader in Playoff Powerplay Goals with 38.
 * Tied for 1st on the all-time Playoff Game Winning Goals list with 24.
 * Holds the St. Louis Blues franchise record for goals scored with 527.
 * Is the only hockey player ever to score 50 goals in a season in the NCAA, the minor leagues, and the NHL. In 1985-86 he scored 52 goals for the U. of Minnesota-Duluth; in 1986-87 he scored 50 goals for the Moncton Golden Flames of the AHL, and from 1989-1994 recorded 5 straight 50+ goal seasons (72,86,70,54,57) for the St. Louis Blues.
 * In 1998, before reaching several career milestones, he was ranked number 64 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
 * Won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1998-1999 and the Detroit Red Wings in 2001-2002.
 * On December 5, 2006, his #16 sweater was retired by the St. Louis Blues and raised to the rafters of the Scottrade Center. Along with his father, Bobby, they are the only father-son combo in any professional sport to have their respective numbers retired.

International play
Played for United States in:
 * 1986 World Championship
 * 1991 Canada Cup
 * 1996 World Cup of Hockey (won championship)
 * 1998 Winter Olympic Games
 * 2002 Winter Olympic Games (won silver medal)
 * 2004 World Cup of Hockey