Third-Best Hull Was Briefly With Red Wings

Bob DuffSun, May 31, 2026·3 min read

The post Third-Best Hull Was Briefly With Red Wings appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

Dennis Hull only wore the winged wheel of the Detroit Red Wings for one season. However, wearing out the Wings was a habit Hull developed over his 14-season NHL career.

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Hull scored 30 goals in 86 career regular-season games against Detroit. The only team he tallied against more frequently was the Boston Bruins (32 goals in 92 games).

When Chicago swept Detroit in the 1970 Stanley Cup quarterfinals, Hull scored twice over the four games.

The younger brother (Bobby Hull) and uncle (former Red Wings forward Brett Hull) of two of the NHL’s greatest goal scorers, it was Dennis who billed himself as the third-best Hull when he wrote his autobiography.

He was no slouch at lighting red lamps, though. Dennis Hull scored 40 goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1970-71. Potting 39 goals and a career-high 90 points in 1972-73, he was named the left-winger on the NHL Second All-Star team.

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Dennis Hull, who died Saturday at the age of 81, played in five NHL All-Star games and three Stanley Cup finals. He was also selected to play for Team Canada against the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series.

Hull Helped Red Wings End Playoff Drought

The Red Wings hadn’t played in the NHL playoffs since losing to Hull and the Blackhawks in that 1970 quarterfinal. On December 2, 1977, Detroit would acquire Hull from Chicago in exchange for a 1980 fourth-round draft pick.

The veteran forward immediately took a shine to his new team.

“I’m impressed by how young they are,” Hull told the Detroit Free Press early in his Red Wings tenure. “Nothing seems to get them down. They’re always ready for the next one.

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“They feel like they’re going to win every game, which is the correct attitude. They’re going to show a lot of people something before the season is over.”

That the Wings did during the 1977-78 season.

Detroit made the playoffs for the first time since losing to Hull and the Blackhawks in 1970. And the Red Wings won a postseason series for the first time since beating Hull and the Blackhawks in the 1966 semifinals.

Playing 55 games for Detroit in what would be his farewell NHL campaign, Hull was good for 5-9-14 totals. His first goal for the Red Wings came on December 6, 1977, at Olympia Stadium against the Blackhawks. He’d also score his 300th career NHL goal while wearing the winged wheel.

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Like his brother Bobby, Dennis Hull was known for his hard shot, but he readily took a back seat in that department to Detroit teammate Reed Larson.

“I’ve never shot a puck as hard as he shoots it, I’ll tell you that,” Hull said.