25 Years Ago, the Red Wings Made a Hull of a Signing

Detroit signed future Hall of Famer and former nemesis Brett Hull to a two-year deal in August 2001, adding another lethal weapon to an already dangerous arsenal.

Detroit Red Wings right wing Brett Hull Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY NETWORK / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

How many future Hall of Famers does it take to win a Stanley Cup? Apparently, the Detroit Red Wings weren't interested in finding out the minimum. The Wings already had Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Chris Chelios on their roster.

On July 1, 2001, they added to their Hall of Fame collection, trading Slava Kozlov and a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for goaltender Dominik Hasek. Four days later, the Red Wings signed left winger Luc Robitaille after he had just finished the 2000-01 season with 37 goals and 88 points with the Los Angeles Kings. Most teams would be done making moves at that point. But not the Red Wings.

On August 22, 2001, they signed one of the most decorated goal scorers in NHL history when they gave right winger Brett Hull a two-year contract.

A lot of players are on the back nine of their careers at 37, but Hull was showing no signs of slowing down when he inked his deal with the Red Wings. He was coming off a 37 goal, 76 point season with the Dallas Stars the year before and the Stars decided it was time to part ways with the three-time 70 goal scorer after he helped lead them to a Stanley Cup in 1999 over Hasek's Sabres and another Stanley Cup appearance a year later when the Stars lost to the New Jersey Devils in six games.

Other teams wanted Hull, but he knew exactly what Detroit was. Brendan Shanahan and Steve Duchesne were former teammates when Hull played in St. Louis. Chris Chelios was on Team USA when he and Hull played in the Canada Cup, World Cup, and Winter Olympics. Yzerman, Fedorov, and Lidstrom had terrorized Hull's Blues for years in the playoffs. The opportunity had finally presented itself and for Hull, if he couldn't beat them, it was time to join them. In Hull's case, it wasn't a bad decision.

When you've got a plethora of superstars on one team, it can be challenging to get everyone goals, power-play time, or the spotlight. Yzerman and company weren't worried about that. They wanted another Cup.

Two Kids and an Old Goat

Detroit Red Wings right wing Brett Hull Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY NETWORK / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It would have been easy for head coach Scotty Bowman to put Hull on a line with the likes of Yzerman or Fedorov, but he didn't. Instead, he eventually put the "Golden Brett" alongside youngster Pavel Datsyuk and Boyd Devereaux.

The "Two Kids and an Old Goat" line was born. It was Datsyuk's rookie year, so his final stats were pedestrian based on what would eventually become Hall of Fame standards. He finished the regular season with 11 goals and 35 points in 70 games. Devereaux, a former first-round pick of the Oilers in 1996, finished with nine goals and 25 points in 79 games. Hull, meanwhile, scored 30 goals and 63 points while playing all 82 regular season games.

When the playoffs rolled around in the spring of 2002, the Red Wings were a well-oiled machine. Or so they thought. The Wings had finished the season 51-17-4. Their first-round opponent was the Vancouver Canucks, who had a 42-30-3 record. It looked like a cakewalk in the making for Detroit, but the Canucks had other plans. They started the series by defeating the Wings in the first two games of the series on Detroit home ice. Like the Chicago Bulls teams in the early and late 90s, the Wings decided playtime was over and won the next four games to win the series.

After dispatching the Blues in five games, it was time to take on their rivals, the Colorado Avalanche, once again. As usual, when these two teams came to blows, it was a back-and-forth series. The Avalanche took a 3-2 series lead heading back to Colorado. Hasek and company shut out the Avalanche 2-0. The Red Wings came out in Game 7 and decimated the defending Cup champions 7-0, as Hull had a goal and an assist in the contest.

The Wings defeated the Hurricanes in five games to win the Stanley Cup. It was their third Cup in six seasons. Hull finished the playoffs with 10 goals and 18 points in 23 games, which was good for third on the team behind Yzerman, Fedorov and Shanahan.

25 years ago, Detroit already had enough talent to win a Stanley Cup. Then they added Brett Hull anyway. They weren't interested in having enough. They had been bounced from the playoffs three straight years after winning consecutive Cups in 1997 and 1998, and enough wasn't good enough anymore.

Hull was 37. Robitaille was 35. Hasek was 36. Yzerman was 36. The window wasn't going to stay open forever, so the Red Wings kicked the damn thing down. And 10 months after Hull signed, the Stanley Cup was back in Detroit.