The Chicago Blackhawks have parted ways with Bobby Hull as a team ambassador as they plan on “redefining the role.”
Bruce Levine of Chicago’s 670 The Score broke the news Monday morning, which the team later confirmed.
“We are redefining the role of team ambassador, which unfortunately comes on the heels of losing two of our very special members of that family [Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito, who died],” said the Blackhawks in a statement. “When it comes to Bobby specifically we jointly agreed earlier this season that he will retire from any official team role.”
According to Levine, the separation happened following a meeting last November.
While Hull was a Hockey Hall of Famer on the ice, controversy followed him off of it. In 1998, The Moscow Times quoted him as saying, "[Adolf] Hitler, for example, had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far.” He also remarked that the population of Black people in America was growing too fast. Hull strongly denied those comments a day later.
Hull also faced multiple allegations of mental and physical abuse from two of his ex-wives.
Changes continue for Blackhawks
Following the Jenner & Block report that revealed Kyle Beach was “John Doe,” who was sexually assaulted by a former Blackhawks video coach in 2010, CEO Danny Wirtz has been working to clean up the image of the franchise. General manager Stan Bowman, head coach Joel Quenneville, and Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Al MacIsaac resigned and the NHL levied a $2 million fine against the team in the wake of the report.
The head athletic trainer of their AHL affiliate in Rockford was fired in November following sexual harassment allegations.
Hull was one of the original team ambassadors along with Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Denis Savard, when they were named in 2007 and 2008. Chris Chelios was added in 2018.
No word yet on if the Blackhawks plan to keep Hull’s statue up in front of United Center.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.