Brett Hull

Brett Andrew Hull was born on August 9, 1964, in Belleville, Ontario. A Canadian-American dual citizen, he played in the NHL from 1986 to 2005 for the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Phoenix Coyotes. His 741 career goals rank fifth all-time, and he is one of only five players to score 50 goals in 50 games. In 1990–91, he netted 86 goals—the third-highest single-season total ever, behind only Wayne Gretzky—and won both the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award as league MVP. Hull won the Stanley Cup twice: in 1999 with Dallas and in 2002 with Detroit. He was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017.

Known as one of hockey’s elite snipers, Hull scored at every level. At the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he put up 52 goals in 1985–86. The next year, with the AHL’s Moncton Golden Flames, he scored 50. In the NHL, he posted five straight seasons of at least 50 goals. He earned three first-team all-star selections and played in eight All-Star Games.

Internationally, Hull chose to represent the United States after being cut from Team Canada. He won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, he joined his father, Bobby Hull, as the first father-son duo to each score 600 goals or 1,000 points in the NHL. His nickname, “the Golden Brett,” echoes his father’s “the Golden Jet.” The St. Louis Blues retired his number 16 in 2006.

Hull’s early life was shaped by hockey. His father, Bobby, was a longtime NHL and WHA star; his mother, Joanne, was an American figure skater who taught him to skate. He has three brothers—Bobby Jr., Blake, and Bart—and a sister, Michelle. Bart played in the CFL, and his uncle Dennis also played in the NHL. Growing up, Hull lived in Illinois while his father played for the Chicago Black Hawks and began organized hockey at age four. The family moved back to Canada in 1972 when Bobby joined the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA. As a youth, Hull played in the 1977 Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament with the Winnipeg South Monarchs. After his parents’ acrimonious divorce in 1979, he moved to Vancouver with his mother and two youngest siblings, and he was not close to his father for a time.

Hull admits he was seen as a “pudgy, fun-loving, music-crazed bum” in his youth and wasn’t surprised when junior teams ignored him. Passed over in the 1982 and 1983 NHL drafts, he played for the Penticton Knights of the BCJHL, scoring 48 goals in 50 games in 1982–83. After a 105-goal, 188-point season in 1983–84, the Calgary Flames selected him in the sixth round of the 1984 draft, 117th overall. He then accepted a scholarship to Minnesota-Duluth, where he scored 32 goals as a freshman and won the Jerry Chumola Award as rookie of the year.

Coaches pushed him to improve his skating, and in 1985–86 he broke the school’s single-season goal record with 52. He was a WCHA first-team all-star and a Hobey Baker finalist. His UMD records include most goals by a rookie (32), most goals in a season (52), 20 power-play goals, seven hat tricks, and 13 multiple-goal games in 1985–86. The school retired his number 29 in 2006.

Turning pro after his sophomore year, Hull signed with Calgary and debuted in the 1986 Stanley Cup Playoffs, appearing in two games of the Final against Montreal. The Flames sent him to the AHL’s Moncton Golden Flames for most of 1986–87, where he tied an AHL rookie record with 50 goals.