Bobby Hull's Grandson Hits Back At Haters

The grandson of hockey legend Bobby Hull — who died Monday — has hit back at people who immediately hopped on the more controversial aspects of the Hockey Hall of Famer's life.

Jude Hull is the son of Brett Hull. Brett is Bobby's son and a Hockey Hall of Famer in his own right. Understandably, Jude wasn't too pleased about how some people couldn't wait 12 hours after his grandfather's death to harp on his past transgressions.

Hull indeed had some blemishes in his life outside of hockey. He was convicted of assaulting a police officer in 1987 after the officer broke up a fight between him and his ex-wife.

Another one of his ex-wives claimed the former Blackhawks and Jets star hit her over the head with a steel-toed shoe and held her over a balcony. She also claimed he once threatened her with a shotgun.

Jude Hull, who played goalie at Minnesota's St. Olaf College, makes the point that people are entitled to their opinions. That's true. Unfortunately, with the amount of information about his grandfather — much of it far from positive — people will have opinions.

They'll also be all too eager to share them.

Bobby Hull Wasn't Afforded The Same Standard As Others With Checkered Pasts

However, Hull was a bonafide hockey legend, whose on-ice accomplishments should be remembered. His jump from the NHL to the WHA was one of the biggest roster moves in hockey history and was maybe the biggest until Wayne Gretzky left Edmonton for Los Angeles.

So now the question is how do we balance a person's positive moments with their negative ones?

There's not one single answer to that as everyone will handle it another way. However, the least you can ask for is some consistency, but that was totally absent here.

As OutKick's Dan Zaksheske wrote on Monday, the way a lot of the same journalists and outlets reacted to Hull's death, was markedly different than how they covered Kobe Bryant's death.

Anyone who brought up the 2003 rape allegations against Bryant at all — let alone in the first 12 hours after his death — was swiftly attacked by the mob.

The circumstances were different. The past incidents were different. But there will be time to address the dark moments. It doesn't have to happen the second someone's pulse stops.

As Jude Hull wrote, "I hope those tweets help you sleep better at night."

Unfortunately, for the holier-than-thou people who couldn't wait to tear into someone's legacy before the family has even had time to process it, it would seem they do.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.