War & Peace Quote by Brett Hull

Hull is drawing a line through an older myth of hockey: that intimidation alone can buy you a roster spot. Coming from an all-time scorer, the authority matters. He is not moralizing about violence; he is issuing a market report. The key phrase is "commodity" - not "player", not "teammate". In Hull's framing, the league has stopped rewarding specialists whose only sell is chaos. What sells now is versatility: skill first, toughness as an add-on.

The subtext is a quiet obituary for the pure enforcer, and it lands because Hull treats it as inevitable rather than tragic. "Six of those guys left" isn’t a stat; it’s a warning delivered in locker-room math. He’s telling young players, and maybe nostalgic fans, that the job description has changed and no amount of tradition will renegotiate it. Fighting becomes a differentiator only after you meet the baseline requirement: speed, puck control, decision-making under pressure.

Context does the rest of the work. By the time Hull says this, the NHL is already tilting toward faster systems, stricter penalties, and a public conversation shaped by concussion research and legal scrutiny. Teams can’t afford a roster spot for a one-tool bruiser when every shift is a sprint and every non-scoring line has to drive possession. Hull’s cynicism is practical: adapt or get priced out. The violence doesn’t disappear; it just has to justify itself.