Cook was already a star when he came to the NHL with the expansion New York Rangers as a 30-year-old in 1926. He became arguably the NHL's best right wing in the pre-World War II era, leading the League in goals and points in 1926-27 and 1932-33, helping the Rangers win the Stanley Cup twice and combining with Frank Boucher and Bun Cook, his younger brother, to form the "Bread Line," one of the most prolific lines in the early years of the NHL.

The native of Brantford, Ontario, didn't turn pro until he was 26, when he joined Saskatoon of the Western Canada Hockey League in 1922. He was a star by his second season, when he led the WCHL with 26 goals and 40 points. The WCHL renamed itself the Western Hockey League for the 1925-26 season and Cook again led the League with 31 goals and 44 points.

The WHL went out of business in 1926, and Conn Smythe, the first general manager of the Rangers, quickly signed Bill and Bun Cook for the new team. Bill Cook was named the new team's first captain, scored the first goal in Rangers history in their NHL debut on Nov. 16, 1926, and led the League in goals (33) and points (37) in 1926-27. One year later, Cook and his linemates scored all of New York's goals in the 1928 Stanley Cup Final, when the Rangers rallied to defeat the Montreal Maroons in the best-of-5 series.

Cook was 36 years and five months old when he won the scoring title for the second time in 1932-33 with 50 points, including an NHL-best 28 goals. He was the oldest player in NHL history to win a scoring title until 2013, when Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning led the League in scoring at age 39. In the Stanley Cup Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cook scored the winning goal in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series, then scored the series-winning goal in overtime for a 1-0 win in Game 4.

After dropping to 13 goals in 1933-34, Cook bounced back with his final 20-goal season in 1934-35, when he finished with 21. He retired from the NHL midway through the 1936-37 season, finishing his career with 366 points (228 goals, 138 assists) in 475 games, as well as 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 46 playoff games.

Cook coached Cleveland of the American Hockey League to two Calder Cup championships (1939, 1941) in his six seasons from 1939-45 and coached the Rangers from 1951-53 but was replaced after New York missed the playoffs in 1953.

A three-time NHL First All-Star Team selection, Cook was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1952. Cook and his former linemates took the ice at the closing of the "old" Madison Square Garden on Feb. 11, 1968. He was also given the honor of "scoring" the first goal at the current MSG one week later.

Cook was 89 when he died of cancer May 5, 1986.