Brett Hull drops his controversial take on the Brendan Leipsic situation.

On Friday fringe National Hockey League player Brendan Leipsic was placed on unconditional waivers by his team, the Washington Capitals, for the purpose of terminating his contract. The move was made as a result of comments made by Leipsic in private conversations that were leaked by an alleged hacker, comments that disparaged rival players, the wives and girlfriends of rival players, and his own teammates on the Washington Capitals as well.

The news has resulted in tremendous backlash against Leipsic and his comments have been universally condemned by the general public and of course by the Washington Capitals themselves who are very clearly distancing themselves from their now former player. There is however the question of whether or not disclosing these private conversations itself crosses a line and this week former NHL star Brett Hull made it clear that he believes the over exposure of NHL players through social media has stolen something from the game of hockey.

"We did the same things, we said the same things, but there was no way to get caught," said Hull during the most recent episode of Hockey Central featuring Jeff Marek, David Amber, Anthony Stewart, and Justin Bourne . "We can go out after games, we can go to strip clubs, we can go to bars, and we could do whatever we wanted, and it would all be hearsay. Well there's no hearsay anymore, it's on an Iphone."

Hull of course is longing for a time when players could get away with a lot more and to his credit admits that players in his days made comments similar to the ones that were made privately by Leipsic, there was simply no way of documenting those comments back in his playing days. Hull believes the impact of this has been so profound that it has taken the fun out of the sport for him, quite the statement from one of the great players his generation.

"The fun is gone," said Hull during the interview. "The game is not fun anymore to me." 

Hull believes that social media has stripped players of the ability to have bonding moments as teammates off the ice, and he laments the fact that most players now will instead carry their Xbox consoles with them so that they can play in their rooms and avoid any potential incidents out in public.

"There's no more fun for the players anymore.... The only way they become teammates is to play Xbox," said Hull.

Hull would also go on to cite the lack of fighting in the modern game as one of the reasons he feels the fun is gone. It has to be noted that Hull was recently caught in a bit of a social media frenzy of his own recently when he gave a drunken speech during the St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup victory parade. Most, myself included, thought it was a hilarious moment that showed the former great having the time of his life, but I have to wonder if that moment being broadcast so so many people might have had an influence on Hull's feelings towards social media in general.