Bobby Hull, the first NHLer to score over 50 goals in a season, dies at 84

Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84.

He played for Chicago and Hartford of the NHL as well as the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets over a 23-year pro career. The Chicago organization confirmed his death Monday.

In 1961, he helped lead Chicago to its first Stanley Cup in 23 years, and is 55th on the NHL's all-time scoring list with 610 goals and 560 assists. He also had 303 goals and 335 assists in the WHA for combined 913 goals in both leagues in 1,474 games.

To put that into context, Wayne Gretzky has a combined total of 940 goals in both leagues over 1,567 games, although all but 80 of those were in the NHL.

His 604 goals with Chicago remain a team record.

"Hull is part of an elite group of players who made a historic impact on our hockey club," the club said in a statement. "Generations of Chicagoans were dazzled by Bobby's shooting prowess, skating skill and overall team leadership."

Hull was the first player in NHL history to score more than 50 goals in a single season. He set the record of 54 in 1966 and broke it by four goals a couple of seasons later.

Along with Chicago teammate Stan Mikita he helped popularize the curved hockey stick blade in the NHL. He would first soak the wooden blade, bend it under a door and leave it overnight. It made Hull's slapshot, clocked at close to 200 kilometres per hour, even harder for a goalie to stop.

WATCH | Hull on leaving Chicago, playing in the WHA and his son, Brett:

His defection to Winnipeg of the WHA in 1972 was the catalyst that helped shatter the NHL's stranglehold on players. It also started the escalation of salaries that now make Hull's once record-setting million-dollar payday look like small change.

There were plenty of hard feelings at the time on both sides, but in 2011 a statue of Hull was erected alongside one of Mikita outside the United Center, where Chicago now plays.

"I never, ever thought in 100 years I'd ever be standing here tonight," Hull said at the unveiling.

Robert Marvin Hull Jr., was born Jan. 3, 1939 in Pointe Anne, Ont., now part of the city of Belleville, and was 12 when he was first scouted by Chicago. He started playing with the team in 1957 at 18.

He was regarded as the fastest skater in the NHL and led the league in scoring seven times in the 1960s. When he left the NHL in 1972 for the WHA, he was second on the all-time scoring list behind only Gordie Howe, and Howe had been in the league for an extra decade.