Brett Hull

Brett Andrew Hull (born August 9, 1964) is a Canadian–American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Hull was born August 9, 1964, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.

His father, Bobby, was a long-time professional hockey player in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA).

His mother, Joanne (McKay), was an American professional figure skater and taught him how to skate.

He has three brothers, Bobby Jr., Blake, and Bart, and a younger sister, Michelle.

Bart played professional football in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

His uncle Dennis was also a longtime NHL player.

As his father played for the NHL's Chicago Black Hawks, Hull spent his early life in Illinois, and he first played organized hockey in the Chicago area at age four.

He and his brothers often skated with the Black Hawks where they watched their father play.

The family moved back to Canada when Bobby signed with the original Winnipeg Jets, then in the WHA, in 1972.

As a youth, Hull and teammate Richard Kromm played in the 1977 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Winnipeg South Monarchs minor ice hockey team.

He moved to Vancouver with his mother and two youngest siblings shortly before his parents' acrimonious divorce in 1979.

Hull was not close to his father following the breakup, though the two spoke periodically.

Admitting that he was viewed as a "pudgy, fun-loving, music-crazed bum" in his youth, Hull stated in his autobiography that he was not surprised when he failed to attract the attention of a junior team.

He was first eligible for the NHL Entry Draft in 1982, but as he was still playing in a juvenile league, was passed over without interest.

He joined the Penticton Knights of the tier-II British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) in the 1982–83 season where he scored 48 goals in 50 games.

He was again passed over at the 1983 Entry Draft as teams remained unconvinced of his commitment to the game and his conditioning.

NHL teams finally took notice of Hull following his 1983–84 season in which he scored 105 goals in 56 games and broke the BCJHL scoring record with 188 points.

The Calgary Flames selected him in the sixth round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, 117th overall.

Hull accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD), and in 1984–85, scored 32 goals as a freshman.

The power of his shot terrorized goaltenders.

He was awarded the Jerry Chumola Award as the school's rookie of the year and received similar honors from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

He played college hockey for the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, where he scored 52 goals in 1985–86.

He scored 50 the following year with the Moncton Golden Flames of the American Hockey League (AHL) and had five consecutive NHL seasons of at least 50 goals.

His coaches at Minnesota-Duluth impressed on Hull the need to improve his skating, and in 1985–86, he broke the school record of 49 goals in one season, reaching 52 that year.

Hull was named the WCHA first-team all-star at right wing and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

He played for the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Phoenix Coyotes between 1986 and 2005.

His career total of 741 goals is fifth highest in NHL history, and he is one of five players to score 50 goals in 50 games.

His 86 goals in 1990–91 is the third-highest single-season total in NHL history, with the first two being the same person, Wayne Gretzky.

Hull won the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award that year as the league's most valuable player.

He was named a first team all-star on three occasions and played in eight NHL All-Star Games.

Having dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, Hull was eligible to play for either Canada or the United States internationally and chose to join the American National Team.

He was a member of the team that won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and was a two-time Olympian, winning a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

He was a member of two Stanley Cup winning teams — 1999 with the Dallas Stars and 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings.

His jersey number 16 was retired by the St. Louis Blues in 2006.

Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, joining his father Bobby Hull.

They are the first father-son combination to each score either of 600 goals or 1,000 career points in the NHL.

Hull's nickname, "the Golden Brett" is a reference to his father's nickname of "the Golden Jet".

In 2017 Hull was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.

Known as one of the game's greatest snipers, Hull was an elite scorer at all levels of the game.