Joe Mullen, the gifted goal-scorer who played 16 NHL seasons, was not from one of hockey's traditional development hotbeds.

Mullen was from the Hell's Kitchen section of New York and honed his skills playing in the big city. One of the early indications of his future was his success as a 17-year-old in the New York Junior Hockey League, when he had 182 points (110 goals, 72 assists) in 40 games for the New York Westsiders in 1974-75.

He earned a scholarship to play at Boston College and scored 110 goals in 111 games in his four seasons. But he went unselected in the NHL Draft and signed with the St. Louis Blues as a free agent Aug. 16, 1979.

In his Hockey Hall of Fame induction speech in 2000, Mullen paid special tribute to the vision of Emile Francis, who coached the New York Rangers when Mullen was growing up and then was the Blues general manager who signed him.

"The thing that Mr. Francis did for all us city kids was give us a reason to get off the streets, give us a reason to think about college, but he also give us a reason to dream," Mullen said.

Mullen realized many of those hockey dreams. He started his professional career with Salt Lake City of the Central Hockey League in 1979-80, and had 72 points (40 goals, 32 assists) in 75 games to win the league's rookie of the year award. He had 117 points (59 goals, 58 assists) in 80 games the following season.

His first NHL game was in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 11, 1980, and he moved into the Blues' lineup for good during the 1981-82 season.

Mullen scored 41 goals in 1983-84, the first of seven seasons with at least 40, and 10 with at least 30, during 1,062 regular-season games with the Blues, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.

When Mullen retired in 1997, he was the highest-scoring United States-born player in NHL history, with 1,063 points (502 goals, 561 assists). He was the first U.S.-born player to score 500 goals and 1,000 points in the League. His 18.0 shooting percentage is fourth among players to score at least 500 goals, after Mike Bossy (21.2 percent), Jari Kurri (19.1), Mario Lemieux (19.0) and Bryan Trottier (18.4).

Mullen won the Stanley Cup three times, with the Flames in 1989 and the Penguins in 1991 and 1992. With the Flames, he led the postseason with 16 goals in 21 games. He had 106 points (60 goals, 46 assists) in 143 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

He was named to the NHL First All-Star team in 1988-89 after he had a personal NHL-best 110 points (51 goals, 59 assists) and won the Lady Byng Trophy as the League's most gentlemanly player in 1986-87 and 1988-89.

Mullen worked for the Penguins as an assistant from 2000-06, including time as coach of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate. He joined the Philadelphia Flyers organization as an assistant on their AHL team in 2006, and joined the Flyers as an assistant in 2007. He worked in that role until 2017.