Brett Hull to be Honored by the St. Louis Blues
There are snipers, goal scorers and then there are guys like Brett Hull. He may not have had the vision of Gretzky or Lemieux but he could put the puck in the net with the best of them.
He was a winner and although he never reached the pinnacle of hockey with the Blues, he did go on to win Stanley Cups with the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings.
Tonight, the St. Louis Blues are honoring Hull for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame last month that will include speeches from former Blues’ greats Brendan Shanahan, Curtis Joseph, Geoff Courtnall and Grant Fuhr.
The years Hull spent in St. Louis were shared with some of hockey’s greats, beyond those that are speaking tonight; the list includes Adam Oates, Wayne Gretzky, Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger.
Hull was acquired from the Calgary Flames in 1987 and promptly scored 72, 86 and 70 goals in a three-season span from 1989-90.
“We had the Babe Ruth of hockey,” Shanahan said. “Every time Babe hit, he hit a home run. Every time Brett shot it, he scored a goal.”
In a measure of irony and no doubt a reminder to Flames fans of what they gave up, he’ll be honored in a pre-game ceremony before Tuesday’s game against Calgary.
Along with the ceremony, the organization is planning to erect a Hull statue outside the Scottrade Center to join his fellow Blues brothers Al MacInnis and Bernie Federko.
This isn’t the first move St. Louis has made to honor Brett, as the team retired Hull’s No. 16 in 2006. Rightfully so as he holds franchise records for goals (527), hat tricks (27), game-winning goals (70), power-play goals (195) and shots on goal (3,367), and ranks second in assists (409), points (936) and short-handed goals (18).
“He really put St. Louis on the map for hockey,” said Keith Tkachuk, a veteran Blues forward. “The building’s going to be electric and we’re going to have to take advantage of that.”
The BetUS NHL line on the game is (-105) for Calgary while the Blues are going off at (-115).
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