Bobby Hull, a 12-time All-Star and two-time Hart Trophy winner who was also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, passed away on Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks reported. He was 84.

The team released a statement on behalf of the Hull family saying, “We express our heartfelt regrets.” “The Hull family has asked for discretion during this trying time. They are grateful for the sympathies that have been expressed.”

Hull, who was dubbed the Golden Jet during his playing career due to his lightning-quick skating and blond hair, won the hearts of Chicagoans when he teamed up with Stan Mikita to help the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961, breaking a 23-year title drought.

Hull adopted Mikita’s strategy of bending the blade of his wooden stick in the 1960s and developed one of the league’s most dreaded slap shots as a result. He apparently hit the ball with a slap shot at 118 mph.

He spent 15 seasons with Chicago, where he now holds the record for the most goals scored in a career (604). He shared the ice with his brother Dennis, a Blackhawks goal scorer with 298 goals, for eight of those seasons.

In 1964–65 and 1965–66, Bobby Hull earned back-to-back Hart Memorial Trophies as the league’s most valuable player, winning the NHL scoring championship for the third time in his career.

Hull was described by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman as “a great superstar with a lively personality” in a statement.

Fans in the NHL stood to their feet in anticipation as Bobby Hull wound up to take a shot, and opposition goalies braced themselves, according to Bettman. There was no more prolific goal scorer in hockey during his heyday.

The whole Hull family, his son Brett, who is now a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, as well as the numerous hockey fans who had the opportunity to watch him play or who have subsequently been inspired by his achievements, are all recipients of our sincere condolences.

Hull left the Blackhawks and the NHL in 1972 to secure the first $1 million deal in professional hockey history (10 years, $1.75 million), and he joined the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA as a player/coach.

In addition to helping the Jets win Avco Cups in 1976 and 1978, he played seven seasons in the WHA. In the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seasons, he received two Gordie Howe Trophies for being the league’s most valuable player, the latter of which included a career-high 77 goals.

He declared his retirement during the 1978–1979 season, but after the NHL and WHA amalgamated, he opted to come back the next year. In 1979–80, he played 18 games for the Jets before being dealt to the Hartford Whalers, where he played nine games before once more retiring.

In 1983, Hull was admitted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009 following a 19-season career in which he scored 741 goals, his son Brett is also a member.

The only father-son team to each win the Hart Trophy is Bobby and Brett Hull. Additionally, they were the only father and son to be listed among the top 100 NHL players of 2017.

Brett Hull, who serves as an ambassador for the St. Louis Blues, said in a statement that his father offered his family and others “a tremendous number of amazing memories.”

“We will treasure the moments we had with him for the rest of our lives,” Brett Hull said. “His absence will be felt deeply.

According to ESPN Stats & Information analysis, Bobby Hull was in the top three for goals scored over the course of ten NHL seasons. Only Alex Ovechkin (11) and Gordie Howe (12) had more of these occurrences.

The Blackhawks and Jets retired Hull’s No. 9. When that Winnipeg team moved to Arizona in 1996 and adopted the name Coyotes, they also retired Hull’s number 9. In order for Brett Hull to wear the number in memory of his father, the Coyotes unretired it in 2005.

Bobby Hull played in 1,063 NHL regular-season games and had 610 goals and 560 assists. In addition to his two Hart Trophies, he also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1965 for outstanding performance and sportsmanship.

He also won the Art Ross Trophy three times, which is given to the league’s point leader. Despite being a standout on the rink, Hull struggled with familial and legal matters off the field.

Two of his three wives came forward and accused him of domestic violence. Joanne McKay, a figure skater who was his second wife, said that he struck her with a shoe while holding her over a balcony in Hawaii in 1966 and threatened her with a loaded shotgun in 1978.

Following an incident in 1984, his third wife Deborah filed charges but eventually withdrew them. Hull, however, eventually entered a guilty plea to assaulting a police officer while being arrested and was sentenced to a $150 fine as well as six months of court supervision.

Hull faced criticism in 1998 for telling The Moscow Times that Hitler “had some nice ideas” but “simply went a bit too far” and that the Black population in the United States was increasing too quickly.

Hull’s departure as a club ambassador was announced by the Blackhawks last year. After Mikita passed away in 2018 and Tony Esposito passed away in 2021, the team said that the position of team ambassador would be redefined.