30 Years Ago, Hull Pulled A Selanne For Red Wings

It worked OK for Chris Webber last year; we'll see about this winter. It didn't work so well for Rudy Giuliani in the political world. Only time will tell if it will work for Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne. Chris Chelios doesn't think he's earned the right, at age 46, to give it a whirl.

What "it" is, is the new vogue trend in team sports for the elders: sit out a good portion of a season, maybe even half or more, and join a club for the stretch run.

Giuliani skipped, in the words of one pundit I saw on the tube yesterday, the playoffs -- i.e. other state primaries -- in order to show up at the Super Bowl (Florida) to try to steal a big win. Didn't work out -- not even close. Webber has foregone the NBA's first half in order to be a latecomer to the Golden State Warriors. Last season, Webber joined the Pistons in mid-January a few weeks after being cut by the 76ers.

And Niedermayer and Selanne have joined the Anaheim Ducks in progress, ostensibly to help them defend their Stanley Cup.

"Certain players have earned that right," the Red Wings' Chelios told the Free Press yesterday. "I'm not sure that I have," he added when asked if he, too, would like to try a half season on for size. He may want to think about it, though -- if his goal is to play in the NHL at age 50, which is only four Januarys away.

All this got me to thinking of Dennis Hull.

The Red Wings were a disaster in 1976-77. They won 16 games, and finished the season without a victory in their final 19 games (0-18-1).* Late in the season, the team hired Ted Lindsay to replace Alex Delvecchio as GM. Lindsay barged in with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, quickly adopting the slogan of "Aggressive Hockey Is Back In Town," and signing goons such as Steve Durbano and Dave Hanson.

In '77-'78, the Red Wings were a comeback story. The team managed to hover slightly above .500 early on, which was amazing considering where they'd been. But Lindsay was as aggressive a GM as his slogan promised. He kept trying to tweak the roster. Eventually he would trade Dan Maloney to Toronto for Errol Thompson.

But around Thanksgiving, Lindsay started chatting with former Chicago Blackhawks star Dennis Hull, Bobby's brother.

Hull was 33, and not playing after being let go by the Blackhawks over the summer of '77. He had scored 298 goals on the left wing -- many of those while playing in the shadow of his famous brother. His resume included a 40-goal season, a 39-goal year, and several 20+-goal seasons. Lindsay wanted to know if Hull had anything left in the tank. So he asked him.

"Give me a few weeks to get into shape," Hull told Lindsay.


Dennis Hull as a member of Team Canada in 1972


So Hull worked himself into game-playing condition, and became a needed veteran presence on the Red Wings. He didn't contribute much offensively -- just five goals in 55 games -- but he played an important role as the Red Wings rose back to respectability. He played in all seven of the team's playoff games. When the season was done, Hull retired -- this time for good.

Lindsay perhaps was influenced to sign Hull by his own personal experience. Terrible Ted rejoined the Red Wings in 1964, at age 39, after four years out of the game.

By the way, the Red Wings have offered former employee Darren McCarty a 25-game tryout with their Grand Rapids affiliate. If successful, that would put McCarty on schedule to join the Red Wings just in time for the playoffs.

Hey -- it's in style nowadays to arrive fashionably late to the roster.

*this stat was culled from the very cool website, Shrpsports, which is chock full of game results in all sports for tons of seasons.

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(confidential to a faithful reader from Columbus, Ohio)

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