He was a giant, an icon: the big-skating blond with the almost mythical strength of an Ontario farm boy, turning hockey into a dramatic one-on-one gunfight with the goalie rather than a messy scrum out front. Hull may have ignored the other end of the ice, but he was probably the greatest left-winger in history until Alexander Ovechkin came along. Winnipeg’s free-flowing offence with Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg and Hull was a precursor to Edmonton of the 1980s Glen Sather built the Oilers with that kind of skating and puck control and skill in mind.
The WHA deal was seismic, and Hull ushered in the new era of big money in the game. Michael Farber, formerly of Sports Illustrated, has called Hull the first modern hockey player and you can see that argument. And he left a huge hockey legacy and a hell of a mess behind. He was erratic, too, or maybe the word was consistent, and it became apparent over time. His slapshot echoed through history, and Bobby’s shot was devastating if erratic. The first man to exceed 50 goals in a season, a Chicago Blackhawks great, the man who jumped to Winnipeg and the World Hockey Association for a million bucks, the Golden Jet. They were like a dance team, almost always in step, only occasionally stumbling.You can’t write hockey history without Bobby Hull, though for a time hockey tried.
Implicitly, they understood what their jobs were and how sometimes one had to step over the other to get the work done in the best way possible. The most proficient president-GM combo in Toronto sporting history came from Paul Beeston and Pat Gillick. He does more than trade players, more than oversee the draft, more than work through the salary cap. He should establish the tempo around the team.
0 kommentar(er)
