Where does Brett Hull rank among all-time goal scorers?

Bill Clement	It's not only the goals Brett Hull scores that make him great, it is the effect his goal scoring can have on the team. To be one of the greats you have to have won a Stanley Cup, and Brett has not only won one, he has won two, and has done so with different teams. I don't think he shoots the puck any better now than he did early in his career, but the one thing I will always respect about Brett Hull is that as the game changed -- and it has changed incredibly since the beginning of his career -- he has been able to adapt and continue to be a prolific scorer. His ability to think the game is what separates him. He knows where the dead spots and holes on the ice are, and unlike a lot of scorers he doesn't always hit a hole, but sometimes backs out of it. Finding friendly ice is his genius, and that's why he likes to play with other smart players. I don't think you can put anybody ahead of Wayne Gretzky in terms of scoring prowess, but Brett is one of the three greatest scorers of his era along with Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
Barry Melrose	If you are talking about his shot, Brett is at the top of the list. He shoots better than Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, his father Bobby Hull or maybe anyone else in the history of the game. Brett has the best wrist shot I have ever seen in the NHL. He has a great release that is quick and accurate, and he can find the open spots or get it off in traffic. As far as touch and the rest of the total package, you have to rate him right behind Gretzky and Lemieux. Brett is 38, and depending on how long he wants to play he could get to 800 goals before his career is over. How high he rises on the all-time list is up to him. He will end up as the top power-play goal scorer of all time and he is among the top five most-talented players ever in the NHL. Brett has also come on late in his career as a two-way player. Just scoring goals wasn't making him happy enough and he wanted to win the Stanley Cup. He didn't want to be one of those guys who leaves the game and has people saying "He was a great player, but he never won a Cup." Dallas and Detroit put him on the ice in any situation, and that wouldn't have happened early in his career in St. Louis. He has given up numbers, because you have to cheat defensively at times to score 70 or 80 goals in a season, but he has turned into a solid two-way guy who has a chance to win the Cup every year if he is on a good team.
Darren Pang	As far as scare-the-goaltender ability, I would have to say that Brett Hull ranks right up there with Mike Bossy. Both are right-handed shots, which goalies will tell you creates much more difficult saves because of the side of the body the puck is on, and neither needed much time to make up their mind once the puck was on their stick. They knew exactly where they were going to put the puck and were never afraid to shoot it, whereas most guys think a little too much and lose that reaction and instinct. When I played against Hull, I wished that the third-line right winger would have 20 shots and Hull none, because I knew I had a better chance to stop those 20 shots than I did one of Brett's. I once gave up five goals to him in a five-game playoff series and it seemed that every time I turned around I was fishing one of his shots out of the back of my net. His ability to deke and weave into the open spaces is clearly what has made him the goal-scorer that he is. Brett doesn't stay in one spot very long, and the minute you think you know where he is he has crept into another position. That creates the surprise of the quick one-timers or the wristers he flat-out blows by you. And as frustrated as he always claims to be with the way the game has changed, he made an adaptation while playing for Ken Hitchcock in Dallas. He didn't like it, but he made the change because he had to. When it gets to be a gritty game, it is impressive how hard Brett works to get himself in position to get the puck or move it to someone else. In years past, we regarded him as a floater that ended up in the right spot and was able to capitalize on one chance, but he has changed over the years and is now a good worker in all areas of the ice.
Brian Engblom	Brett Hull has the best one-timer, ever. He not only hits the net, he has that magic touch that always seems to make it go in. He also can do things on those one-timers, dropping to on knee and still getting it off, that are just amazing. One of the underrated parts if his game is how smart he is on the ice. It is amazing that a guy who is coming up on 700 career goals can disappear on the ice as often as he does. Brett is not a big guy who will win physical battles, so he comes and goes, fades away and jumps back into the play when he sees something develop. He reads the ice completely and goes to the open spot, and he relies on smart teammates to know where those open spots are, too. And I don't think there has ever been anyone better at that part of the offensive game, knowing where the opening should be and where it will be. He will be the first to tell you he is the type of guy who needs to play with other highly-skilled players. He is a give-and-go guy and a finisher, and in order to finish you have to play with guys who can pass the puck really well. His development at both ends of the ice began when he went to Dallas in 1998. As much as he complained about Ken Hitchcock's restrictive system, Ken helped Brett realize what it takes to win and he got with the program. And since he has been in Detroit's more open system Brett has learned even more about the benefit of both parts of the game. He now kills penalties and is on the ice in situations he never would have been in before, and that is part of the reason Brett said last year's Stanley Cup was even more enjoyable.