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Red Wing's play speaks volumes

Brett Hull has contributed a league- leading 10 playoff goals and a solid all-around game for Detroit.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 12, 2002

DETROIT -- Brett Hull has a big mouth. Just ask Boyd Devereaux.

The Red Wings center said no Detroit player escaped Hull's sharp on-ice tongue this season. Sorry, thicker skin is not available in the training room.

"He's always talking out there, joking and keeping it light," Devereaux said. "He doesn't spare anyone. You have to love it when it's someone else, but when it's you, it's like, 'Arrrrgh."'

Whether he is joking or prodding an underachieving teammate, Hull has every right to talk. Not every player has scored more than 600 goals. In fact, there are only 13. Not every player has scored 100 playoff goals. In fact, there are only four.

The 37-year-old right wing joined the latter group Monday, scoring the winner during the Red Wings' 3-0 victory over the Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final.

The victory gave Detroit a 3-1 series lead and a chance to clinch the title Thursday at home.

"It just doesn't matter," Hull said of his milestone. "We got one more game to win, and that is what we're looking for. If I don't get one or if I get five, it doesn't matter as long as we win."

Clearly, Stanley Cup victories are how Hull is measuring his career. If it pricks those who believed their teams were better off without him, that's okay, too.

It was easy to read between the lines as Hull spoke after Monday's game.

"I guess there was a time," he said, "when there was talk that you could never win in the playoffs with Brett Hull, and all of a sudden, you win a Cup."

Hull was talking about naysayers in St. Louis, where he scored 480 of his 679 regular-season goals (including 72 in 1989-90, 86 in 1990-91 and 70 in 1991-92) but did not win a championship and was allowed to leave as a free agent after the 1997-98 season.

There also was a message for the Stars, who won the Cup in 1999, with Hull getting the triple-overtime clincher in Game 6 against the Sabres, but decided not to re-sign him last summer.

"I feel very fortunate, like more than you could ever imagine, to be in this situation right now and to be with this group of guys when, literally, in August, I had nowhere to play," Hull said.

Hull believed he would stay with the Stars. But he said Dallas took so long to make its decision, other teams had completed their free-agent shopping by the time he began seriously looking elsewhere.

He took a pay cut from $7-million to $3.5-million to sign with the Red Wings. In the context of their $66-million payroll, he is a bargain.

Hull had 30 goals and 33 assists in the regular season.

He has a league-high 10 playoff goals, including a marvelous, mid-air tip that tied it in Game 3 with 1:14 left in regulation and set up a dramatic triple-overtime victory that seems to have broken Carolina's back.

"He's a pure goal scorer," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "He got his 10th goal in a league where it's really tough to score."

But Hull does so much more. He has not missed a game this season. He kills penalties, has eight playoff assists and plays with and mentors Devereaux, 24, and center Pavel Datsyuk, 23, a line Hull calls "two kids and a goat."

"When you score 60 or 70 goals a year, they take it for granted that's all you can do," Detroit right wing Darren McCarty said.

"But he plays a complete game. He's a great passer. He sees the ice extremely well and has soft hands. He knows where you are and where you like to be. He's terrific."

And he is part of a legacy that includes Wayne Gretzky, who has 122 playoff goals, Mark Messier (109) and Jari Kurri (106).

He also is on the verge of a second Stanley Cup. The Stars did not make the playoffs.

That, Hull might say, speaks for itself.

RED WING SUSPENDED: Detroit defenseman Jiri Fischer was suspended for Game 5 for cross-checking Tommy Westlund in the mouth.

As the two tangled behind the net in the third period of Game 4 on Monday, Fischer rammed his stick into Westlund's face.

Westlund was bleeding heavily as he left the ice and needed five stitches inside his mouth.

RATINGS: ABC's ratings for Games 3 and 4 rose 21 percent from a year ago. An average of 3.5-million households watched the games.

-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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