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Johnmaxmena at English Wikipedia, Bretthull1994, CC BY 3.0
Across the world of professional sports, there have been many great father-son athletes throughout history, from Bobby and Barry Bonds in baseball to Dell and Steph Curry in basketball to the Mannings in football (father Archie and sons Peyton and Eli), etc. However, in terms of the greatest father-son duo ever, those honors might go to hockey players Bobby and Brett Hull. Known respectively as “The Golden Jet” and “The Golden Brett”, both father and son led the NHL in goal scoring, were named MVP, and reached the magical 500 career goal mark, among other honors, and are the first father and son combo to both be inducted as Hall of Famers in their sport. Each player is an all-time hockey great in their own right, but in comparing father and son side-by-side, we ask the question:
Who was better – Bobby Hull or Brett Hull?
The Beginning
Both Bobby and Brett Hull came into the NHL with a knack for scoring goals and were immediate contributors for their teams, though it would take a few seasons for each one to develop into one of the league’s top goal scorers.
Following stints in both the minor and junior leagues, father Bobby joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 1957 at the age of 18 and had a fine rookie season, scoring 13 goals with 34 assists for 47 points and finishing second in the Calder Trophy voting for top rookie. After a similar sophomore campaign, he would break out in his third season – in the 1959-1960 season, Bobby scored 39 goals with 42 assists for 81 points in 70 games played and was named an All-Star for the first of a dozen times. Moreover, he would win the first of three Ross Trophies for top point scorer and finished second in the Hart Trophy voting for MVP.
A little over 25 years later, son Brett was selected 117th overall in the sixth round of the 1984 NHL Draft by the Calgary Flames, though opted to attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth on scholarship for a few seasons. There, he scored 32 goals as a freshman and then 52 as a sophomore, and was named Western College Hockey Association (WCHA) First Team All-Star and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as top NCAA player. Jumping to the NHL after his sophomore year, Brett spent most of the 1986-1987 season in the AHL before joining the Flames full-time the next season. In 52 games with the Flames, he scored 26 goals and had 24 assists for 50 points, but was traded mid-season along with Steve Bozek to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Rob Ramage and Rick Wamsley; overall, Brett finished the year with 32 goals and 32 assists for 64 points and was fifth in the Calder Trophy race. The next season, in 1988-1989, his first full-time with the Blues, Brett broke out with the first of eight 40-goal seasons, tallying 41 goals and 43 assists for 84 points in 78 games to lead St. Louis in scoring.
Career Comparison
While they may not have had the overall playmaking ability of a Gordie Howe or Wayne Gretzky, in their respective primes, Bobby and Brett were each one of the top goal-scoring threats in the NHL (in contemporary terms, think more of an Alex Ovechkin rather than a Sidney Crosby) and would each put up historic numbers.
Known for his blistering slapshot, Bobby would follow-up on his first Ross-winning campaign with a second Ross Trophy in 1961-1962, scoring 50 goals and 34 assists for 84 points in 70 games, the first of five 50+ goal seasons in the NHL. Then, after three previous top-three finishes in the Hart Trophy voting, he would capture his first Hart in 1964-1965 on the strength of 39 goals and 32 assists for 71 points in only 61 games. The next season, Bobby would win his third Ross Trophy and second straight Hart Trophy with 54 goals and 43 assists for 97 points in 65 games (his best statistical season to-date). Arguably his best statistical season overall came in 1968-1969, when he scored an NHL career-high 58 goals and 49 assists for 107 points in 74 games, though in a twist, did not win either the Ross or Hart Trophies that year.
After 13 consecutive 30+ goal seasons in the NHL, due in large part to unhappiness over his salary, Bobby made the bold move at age 34 of jumping ship to the Winnipeg Jets of the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA), signing a player/coach contract of 10 years for $1.75 million salary with a $1 million signing bonus. Over the course of seven WHA seasons, Bobby put up some staggering numbers – 303 goals and 335 assists for 638 points in 411 games, including a 77-goal, 65-assist, 142-point season in 1974-1975, and twice won the Gordie Howe Trophy as league MVP (Mr. Hockey actually played in the WHA at the same time for the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers until he was 50!). Following the NHL-WHA merger in 1979, Bobby split 27 NHL games in the 1979-1980 season between the Jets and the Hartford Whalers before retiring at age 41.
A decade after his father retired from the NHL, Brett would begin one of the most incredible three-season stretches in league history, scoring 70+ goals each year from 1989 to 1992. In the 1989-1990 season, he tallied 72 goals and 41 assists for 113 points in 80 games to finish third in the Hart Trophy voting and won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”. The next season would be a career-best, as Brett scored 86 goals with 45 assists for a career-high 131 points in 78 games, winning both the Hart Trophy and the Pearson Award (now known as the Lindsay Award) for most outstanding player in the regular season; the 86 goals are the third-highest single-season total, behind only “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky’s 92 and 87-goal seasons in the 1980s). To cap off his troika of 70+ goal seasons, Brett returned in the 1991-1992 seasons with 70 goals and 39 assists for 109 points in 73 games, and finished third in the Hart voting again.
Following two more 50+ goal seasons and an additional two 40+ goal seasons with the Blues, as well as his 500th career goal, Brett became an unrestricted free agent and joined the Dallas Stars in 1998. Though he had a few down years by his very high standards, Brett’s best season as a Star came in 2000-2001, when he tallied 39 goals and 40 assists for 79 points in 79 games. However, Brett became a bit of a hockey nomad during the tail end of his playing days, leaving Dallas after three seasons to join the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent; in three additional seasons there, he would twice score 30+ goals, including a 37-goal, 39-assist, 76-point campaign in 2002-2003 at age 39. Finally, after signing with the Phoenix Coyotes and sitting out a year due to the lock-out, he would come back and play just five games in the 2005-2006 season before hanging up his skates for good at the age of 41 (essentially the same age as Bobby).
In comparing this electric father and son duo, Brett played three additional NHL seasons and roughly 200 more games than Bobby, which led to him tallying more career goals and assists; however, if you add together Bobby’s NHL and WHA numbers (recognizing the lower overall quality of play in the latter), his combined statistics are astounding – 913 goals and 895 assists over 23 seasons. Surprisingly (or not), their per-game and season totals are eerily similar: Bobby averaged 0.57 goals and 0.53 assists per game during his NHL career with 13 30+ goal and five 50+ goal seasons, while Brett averaged 0.58 goals and 0.51 assists and also had 13 30+ goal and five 50+ goal seasons (with the three highest single-season tallies of 86, 72, and 70). Where Bobby has the big edge is in awards – in terms of hardware and honors, he tallied more All-Star Game nods (12 vs. 8), Hart Trophies (2 vs. 1), and Ross Trophies (3 vs. 0); additionally, both players have a Lady Byng and Brett also owns a Pearson to his name (for what it is worth, note that Brett played in the same era as Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Mark Messier). Moreover, the biggest difference that jumps out to me is overall +/- impact on the ice – as you might intuitively think, Bobby is significantly positive over his career (+249), whereas despite all of his offensive contributions, Brett is close to even (only +23).
Regular Season Statistics
| Bobby Hull | Player | Brett Hull |
| 16 (1957-1972, 1979-1980) | Seasons | 19 (1986-2006) |
| 1,063 | Games Played | 1,269 |
| 610 | Goals | 741 |
| 560 | Assists | 650 |
| 1,170 | Points | 1,391 |
| 249 | +/- | 23 |
| 12x | All-Star Games | 8x |
| 2x | Hart Trophies | 1x |
| 3x | Ross Trophies | – |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | 2x |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| 1x Lady Byng | Other Awards | 1x Lady Byng, 1x Pearson |
| 1983 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2009 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Both father Bobby and son Brett were frequent visitors to the playoffs and strong contributors to Stanley Cup-winning teams, with Brett responsible for one of the most controversial goals in playoff history. In 14 NHL postseason appearances, Bobby essentially matched his per-game regular season scoring (0.52 goals and 0.56 assists per game), while Brett appeared in the postseason in all 19 career seasons and over 200 playoff games, and was just slightly below his regular season numbers (0.51 goals and 0.43 assists per game).
Notably, in 1960-1961, Bobby led the Chicago Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup over the Detroit Red Wings 4-2, totaling 4 goals and 10 assists in 12 games (note that the Conn Smythe for playoff MVP would first be awarded for the 1964-1965 season). The next season, defending champs Chicago would lose in the finals to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2. Bobby would make the Stanley Cup finals three more times in his career, but lose each time to the Montreal Canadiens (4-3 in 1964-1965, 4-3 in 1970-1971, and 4-2 in 1972-1973); his best individual postseason came in 1970-1971, when Bobby scored 11 goals and had 14 assists in 18 games.
Unlike his father, who won his first and only Cup in his early years, Brett would have to wait until his waning years to lift the trophy. In 1998-1999, he scored 8 goals and 7 assists in 22 postseason games, none bigger than his controversial triple overtime game-winning and Stanley Cup-clinching goal in Game 6 of the finals to beat Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres. The following year, Brett would have his best individual postseason with 11 goals and 13 assists in 23 games, but his Stars team would lose in the Stanley Cup Finals to Martin Brodeur’s New Jersey Devils 4-3. After joining the Red Wings, Brett would win his second and final Stanley Cup in 2001-2002 as Detroit cruised past the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1, contributing 10 goals and 8 assists over 23 games in the effort.
Playoff Statistics
| Bobby Hull | Player | Brett Hull |
| 119 | Games Played | 202 |
| 62 | Goals | 103 |
| 67 | Assists | 87 |
| 129 | Points | 190 |
| 16 | +/- | 13 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; in the case of father and son, while both Bobby and Brett were still dangerous scorers well into their late 30s, their best years were clearly as 20-something year-olds. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Bobby Hull | Player | Brett Hull |
| 1959-1960, 1961-1962, 1963-1969, 1970-1972 | Decade of Dominance | 1988-1998 |
| 703 | Games Played | 731 |
| 473 | Goals | 521 |
| 398 | Assists | 401 |
| 871 | Points | 922 |
| 234 | +/- | -20 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Again putting father and son side-by-side, an interesting picture emerges in the decades of dominance – while much of Brett’s higher career NHL scoring numbers can be attributed to his longevity, he actually outscored Bobby over their 10 best seasons (helped immensely by his standout three-year stretch of 70+ goals each year). Once again, however, Bobby’s positive impact on the ice is far more pronounced, with a +234 +/- rating vs. Brett actually being negative at -20. Nevertheless, when Brett was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, he and Bobby (who was inducted in 1983) became the first (and still only) father and son Hall of Fame duo in the sport’s history.
My Thoughts
Without a doubt, I would consider Bobby Hull and Brett Hull the best father-son duo in sports history (yes, ahead of the Bonds’, the Griffeys, the Mannings, the Earnhardts, the Currys, the Matthews’, etc.). But that is not the question here – instead, it is who was better, the father or the son. In terms of sheer NHL numbers, Brett comes out slightly ahead, both over their decades of dominance and their overall careers, due to greater longevity and immensely helped by the era he played in (case in point: the top 10 seasons for points scored were all in the 1980s, all by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux); however, adding in Bobby’s WHL numbers, he would clearly come out ahead in accumulation stats. Moreover, while certainly no insult to Brett, who is still an all-time great in his own right, Bobby was both the more effective overall player (see his far better overall +/- rating) and the better player relative to his peers, as evidenced by his superior trophy case.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Bobby Hull
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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