Jeremy Laura: Red Wings 4 goal first enough to get first win for McLellan vs Washington

Regarding 1300 NHL points, Brett Hull shouldn’t really count on a technicality.

Hmmm, everyone should be racing to post their congratulations to Todd with his 1st of many Red Wing wins!
Go Todd go! Be no-tank Todd and continue to wake this team up from the dead!

Brett Hull shouldn't really count on a technicality.

Disagree completely and it always annoys me when Hull is excluded from "American" records.

Hull did not have to naturalize. He is considered to have been an American citizen (as well as Canadian) at birth. Yes he was born in Canada but he had a US citizen mother, whose permanent residence was in the US, and he spent the first eight years of his life living in the US.

It's no different than if an American citizen and resident parent has a child while on vacation overseas. Their kid is still entitled to birthright American citizenship just as Hull was. (Or, say, how Robyn Regehr was automatically granted Canadian citizenship even though he was born in Brazil.)

I get why excluding Hull makes it easier to hype other players' accomplishments (e.g., saying Kane is No. 2 instead of No. 3 on the "American-born" scoring list), but I hate that it implies that Hull is somehow "less" American than the others. As a natural born citizen who chose to represent the US in international competition there is no legitimate reason to exclude him.

Disagree completely and it always annoys me when Hull is excluded from "American" records.

Hull did not have to naturalize. He is considered to have been an American citizen (as well as Canadian) at birth. Yes he was born in Canada but he had a US citizen mother, whose permanent residence was in the US, and he spent the first eight years of his life living in the US.

It's no different than if an American citizen and resident parent has a child while on vacation overseas. Their kid is still entitled to birthright American citizenship just as Hull was. (Or, say, how Robyn Regehr was automatically granted Canadian citizenship even though he was born in Brazil.)

I get why excluding Hull makes it easier to hype other players' accomplishments (e.g., saying Kane is No. 2 instead of No. 3 on the "American-born" scoring list), but I hate that it implies that Hull is somehow "less" American than the others. As a natural born citizen who chose to represent the US in international competition there is no legitimate reason to exclude him.
- Sven22

But Hull did not make Canada's team, and then decided to be "American" and joined their team.
Just playing devil's advocate.

But Hull did not make Canada's team, and then decided to be "American" and joined their team.
Just playing devil's advocate.

- HenryHockey

I get that, but counterpoint:

He was a natural-born citizen of both countries. There's no need to put air quotes around American. Just because he was also Canadian does not mean he was any less of an American. And just because he was snubbed from the Canadian team doesn't make him the equivalent of a sporting mercenary (like, say, Jake Chelios representing China).

Putting myself in his position -- if I were a dual citizen, considered myself equally American and Canadian for "patriotic" purposes, but was forced to choose only one country to play for, and it's the mid-80s ... I mean for competitive reasons the smart play would be to choose Canada, right? I wouldn't have held that against Hull had Canada offered him a spot. If you're a citizen of both and willing to play for either, and both want you, you probably go with the team that gives you a better chance at world championships. Well, Canada didn't want him, the US did, and the rest is history.

I know you're just playing devil's advocate here, I'm genuinely not trying to stir stuff up. I just hate how Hull gets crap from both sides. I always thought it was pathetic how Canadians booed Hull for representing the US -- even though he was just as much an American as he was a Canadian, and their country never wanted him in the first place (no major junior offers, no national team interest). But even a lot of American hockey fans seem to think less of him, or consider him not "really" American, because he happened to be born in Ontario. He was born an American citizen, and he chose to represent the USA even though he easily could have held out of international competition until Canada finally came calling. I think that's more than enough to not have to put an asterisk next to his accomplishments "as an American."