Editing Bobby Hull (section)

==Playing career==

===NHL career===
[[File:Hastings County Archives HC01957A (38140064474).jpg|thumb|upright|Hull with the Black Hawks in 1968]]
Hull had a solid debut year, finishing second in voting for the [[Calder Memorial Trophy]]. Hull originally wore numbers 16 and 7 as a Black Hawk but later switched to his famous number 9, a tribute to his childhood idol [[Gordie Howe]]. By his third season (1959–60), he led the league in goal- and point-scoring (the [[Art Ross Trophy]]), a double feat which he also achieved in 1961–62 and 1965–66. He led Chicago to the [[1961 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup in 1961]]—their third overall and first in 23 years. He finished second in point-scoring three further times.

On March 12, 1966, Hull became the first NHL player to score more than 50 goals in a season, surpassing [[Maurice Richard]]'s, [[Bernie Geoffrion]]'s, and his own mark of 50 goals. His 51st goal, scored on [[Cesare Maniago]] of the [[New York Rangers]], earned him a seven-minute standing ovation from the [[Chicago Stadium]] faithful. Hull eventually scored 54 goals that season, the highest single-season total of the [[Original Six]] era. That same year, Hull set the record for the most points in a season with 97, one more than the previous record set by [[Dickie Moore (ice hockey)|Dickie Moore]] 7 years earlier. His point total was tied the next year by teammate [[Stan Mikita]] and their record was broken three years later by [[Phil Esposito]]. Hull led the league in goal-scoring seven times during the 1960s. In [[1968–69 NHL season|1968–69]], despite Hull breaking his own goals in a season record by four goals (netting 58) and setting a career NHL high of 107 points (second in the league that year), the Hawks missed the playoffs for the first time since his rookie season. By his final [[1971–72 NHL season|NHL season]], he had scored 50 goals or more a remarkable five times. This was only one time less than all other players in NHL history combined up until that point in time.

In his 15 full NHL seasons he was voted the First-Team All-Star left winger ten times and the Second-Team All-Star left winger twice. His slapshot was once clocked at 118.3&nbsp;mph (190.5&nbsp;km/h) and he could skate 29.7&nbsp;mph (47.8&nbsp;km/h).<ref name='Hawk on the Wing'>{{cite magazine | title=Hawk on the Wing | date=March 1, 1968 | url =https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,941234,00.html | magazine =[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | access-date = January 25, 2021}}</ref> During his drive to be the first to eclipse the 50 goal mark, Hull's [[wrist shot]] was said to be harder than his [[slapshot]].<ref>{{cite magazine|author=William Leggett |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1965/01/25/606983/go-bobby-goto-beat-the-magic-50 |title=In the boldest attack yet on hockey's seemingly impassable barrier, Bobby Hull has sent his lightning-fast slap and wrist shots into the net 36 times to put him and Chicago on the road to a championship |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=January 25, 1965 |access-date=April 17, 2024 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114004138/https://www.si.com/vault/1965/01/25/606983/go-bobby-goto-beat-the-magic-50 |archivedate=November 14, 2016}}</ref>

===="Bobby Hull Rule"====
Hull and teammate [[Stan Mikita]] were catalysts for a 1960s craze where players curved the blades of their hockey sticks, which became widely referred to as "banana blades".<ref name=YahooAugust2010>{{cite news|last=Wyshynski|first=Greg|title=The 10 best player-inspired NHL rules changes|url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/10-best-player-inspired-nhl-rules-changes--nhl.html|work=Yahoo! Sports|date=August 19, 2010}}</ref> Hull is the player typically linked most to the rule that banned this practice because of the potential danger to goalies, few of whom wore masks in that era.<ref name=YahooAugust2010/> The curved blade made the puck's trajectory unpredictable. The rule originally limited the blade curvature to between {{cvt|0.5|in|mm}} and {{cvt|0.75|in|mm}}; in 1970, it was set at {{cvt|0.5|in|mm}}.<ref name=YahooAugust2010/> NHL Rule 10.1 currently limits the curvature to {{cvt|0.75|in|mm}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/rules/2018-2019-NHL-rulebook.pdf|title=Official rules 2018–2019|publisher=National Hockey League}}</ref>

===WHA career===
Long unhappy with his poor salary despite being one of hockey's preeminent superstars, Hull responded to overtures from the upstart [[World Hockey Association]]'s [[Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)|Winnipeg Jets]] in [[1972–73 WHA season|1972]] by jesting that he would jump to them for a million dollars, a sum then considered absurd. Gathering the other league owners together to contribute to the unprecedented amount on the grounds that inking such a major star gave instant credibility to the new rival league that was competing directly against the entrenched NHL, Jets owner [[Ben Hatskin]] agreed to the sum, and signed Hull as a [[player-coach]] for a contract worth $1.75&nbsp;million over 10 years plus a $1&nbsp;million signing bonus.<ref name="wapo_obit">{{cite news |last1=Sumner |first1=Ben |title=Bobby Hull, hockey’s ‘Golden Jet’ of the ice, dies at 84 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/01/30/bobby-hull-hockey-dead/ |access-date=16 November 2024 |work=Washington Post |date=30 January 2023}}</ref> Although his debut with Winnipeg was held up in litigation by the NHL, Hull instantly became the WHA's greatest star winning the [[Gordie Howe Trophy]] as league MVP in 1972–73 and 1974–75. With Swedish linemates [[Anders Hedberg]] and [[Ulf Nilsson (ice hockey)|Ulf Nilsson]] he formed one of the most formidable forward lines of the 1970s (known as "The Hot Line"), leading the Jets to two [[Avco World Trophy|AVCO Cup]]s during his time with the club. His best performance was during the [[1974–75 WHA season|1974–75 season]], when he scored 77 goals to set a new professional mark, while adding 65 assists for a total of 142 points, five behind the league leader, one of two times he finished second in the point-scoring race in the WHA. In the five WHA seasons in which he played more than half the schedule, he was voted a [[WHA All-Star Team|First-Team]] All-Star thrice and a Second-Team All-Star twice, while tallying 50 goals and 100 points four times each.

Because he joined the rival league, Hull was not allowed to represent [[Canada men's national ice hockey team|Team Canada]] in the [[1972 Summit Series]], which pitted Canada's top NHL players against the [[Soviet Union national ice hockey team|USSR's national team]]. Two years later, a [[1974 Summit Series|second Summit Series]] was held in which Hull and other top WHA stars (including [[Gordie Howe]], who had been retired from the NHL at the time of the initial Summit Series) competed against the Soviet national team. The WHA lost the series four games to one (three ending in a tie), despite Hull's seven goals. He was a key member of the Canadian squad that won the [[1976 Canada Cup]], though, scoring five goals and three assists in seven games.

===Later career and retirements===
Slowed by injuries and age, Hull played only a few games in the WHA's final season of [[1978–79 WHA season|1978–79]]. 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, bringing the two-time [[Gordie Howe Trophy]] winner together with the 51-year-old Howe himself (who, after Hull's initial contest with the Whalers, told the press, "The kid looks good in his first game."). Hull played effectively in nine games (two goals and five assists) and three playoff games before retiring once more to care for his partner, who had been injured in an automobile accident.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|last=Clarity|first=James|title=Hull Shows Spirit in Ranger Tryout|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/10/sports/hull-shows-spirit-in-ranger-tryout.html|date=September 10, 1981|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In September 1981, Hull attempted one final comeback with the [[New York Rangers]] at age 42, at the suggestion of Rangers coach [[Herb Brooks]], who wanted to try reuniting Hull with his former Jets teammates, Hedberg and Nilsson.<ref name="comeback">{{cite web |last1=Clarity |first1=James F. |title=Hull Fails to Make Rangers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/09/sports/hull-fails-to-make-rangers.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 27, 2019 |date=October 9, 1981}}</ref> The comeback attempt lasted five exhibition games, during which Hull had one goal and one assist, before he and the Rangers both decided it was best to end the comeback.<ref name="comeback" /> It was the second time in Hull's career that he had played exhibition games with the Rangers; in 1959, after missing the playoffs the previous spring, the Rangers and the [[Boston Bruins]] had been sent on an exhibition tour of Europe, and then-emerging star Hull and [[Eddie Shack]] were added to the Rangers' roster for the tour. Hull and Shack co-led the Rangers in scoring, each netting 14 goals over the 23-game tour.<ref name="Rangers 1">{{cite book|last=Kreiser|first=John|title=The New York Rangers : Broadway's longest-running hit|year=1996|publisher=Sagamore Pub.|location=Champaign, IL|isbn=1571670416|page=139|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSlinBzTL0QC&q=%22bobby+hull%22%22rangers%22%22tour%22%22europ%20e%22&pg=PA139|author2=Smith, Lou Friedman |author3=foreword by Neil }}</ref>

Hull ended his career having played in 1,063 NHL games, accumulating 610 goals, 560 assists, 1,170 points, 640 penalty minutes, three [[Art Ross Trophy|Art Ross Trophies]], two [[Hart Memorial Trophy|Hart Memorial Trophies]] (he finished second or third in the voting an additional six times), a [[Lady Byng Memorial Trophy]], and a [[Stanley Cup]] Championship, adding 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. His North American major league professional total of 1,018 goals (NHL and WHA including playoffs) is the third most of all-time after [[Wayne Gretzky]] (1,072) and Gordie Howe (1,071), although the NHL does not recognize scoring statistics from the WHA in players' career totals.