MinnesotaB次元官网网址檚 Marcus Foligno took a hit, delivered one of his own to ChicagoB次元官网网址檚 Jarred Tinordi, and the two big guys
Outdoors in the Meadowlands, it took even less for to spice up the Rangers-Islanders showdown with a fight.
But when Morgan Rielly for firing a slap shot into an empty net? Some pushing and shoving. Nothing more.
B次元官网网址淗ow there wasnB次元官网网址檛 a brawl there, I donB次元官网网址檛 know how everyone didnB次元官网网址檛 start fighting,B次元官网网址� wondered Todd Simpson, a 50-year-old retired player who piled up more than 1,300 penalty minutes in 580 NHL games. B次元官网网址淭hat shouldB次元官网网址檝e been a big fight.B次元官网网址�
All of these situations happened over the past month, riveting reminders that fighting is alive and well in the NHL even if it is diminished in many ways.
It has been 20 years since Simpson and his Ottawa teammates got into a fight fest at Philadelphia, a game that still holds the NHL record with Of 40 players who suited up, 23 got at least two minutes of penalty time.
Those kinds of massive clashes are long gone, faded like the in B次元官网网址淪lap Shot.B次元官网网址� Like the beloved movie, however, fighting is warmly remembered, even desired, by many fans of the game and cheering on the brawls remains common. Those fans need not worry: Even in the NHL, which has fewer and fewer spots for goons these days, fighting is rare but certainly not gone, with a fight coming roughly every four or five games across the league.
Many in a sport that values standing up for teammates, even as they have watched some of the biggest fighters left shells of themselves by repeated blows to the head.
B次元官网网址淚t doesnB次元官网网址檛 happen often, but you still have to have it,B次元官网网址� said Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, whose 237 career fights rank 21st all-time. B次元官网网址淲hen I played, you could really use as intimidation. You can still use it a little bit today but not as much. The staged fighting and all that stuff, that doesnB次元官网网址檛 work anymore. But there is a time and place for it.B次元官网网址�
FIGHTING ON THE WANE
The NHL does not publicly list penalties by type, including fighting and other major infractions. According to HockeyFights.com, there have been 219 fights this season through Monday with 63 more projected before the playoffs begin for a total of 282, which would be a sharp drop from the 789 in 2003-04. That is a 200% decrease over 20 years and significantly down from 645 as recently as 2010-11.
Rule changes are part of the reason. The institution of the salary cap in 2005 made it more difficult for a team to pay a player whose skills were limited to throwing punches and protecting stars. In 2013, it became illegal to take a helmet off to fight and mandatory visors were grandfathered in.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 obviously evolved a lot where guys like myself back in the day no longer exist B次元官网网址� one-dimensional fighters no longer exist,B次元官网网址� said Riley Cote, who fought 50 times in 156 games with Philadelphia from 2007-10 and countless other times in the minor leagues. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 been a natural progression. B次元官网网址� IB次元官网网址檓 not sure at the NHL level theyB次元官网网址檒l ever fully phase it out, but theyB次元官网网址檙e doing a pretty good job of trying.B次元官网网址�
No one expects a fighting ban, like the ejection and suspension policies that exist in college and internationally. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the fighting helps keep tensions from boiling over.
B次元官网网址淔ighting, in the spontaneous sense, tends to act as a bit of a thermostat when things happen in the course of the game,B次元官网网址� in 2013. Discussing a fight between Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier, Bettman said, B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 rather them be punching each other than swinging sticks at each other.B次元官网网址�
WILL FIGHTING SURVIVE?
A by the NHL PlayersB次元官网网址� Association and CBC found that 98% of players at that time didnB次元官网网址檛 support the total elimination of fighting. A vast majority of those players are now out of the league, replaced by a generation that has made hockey faster and more skilled than ever B次元官网网址� but still willing to drop the gloves on occasion and wanting that option.
B次元官网网址淚t always needs to be in the game,B次元官网网址� said St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who has fought twice this season but never more than four times a year as a professional. B次元官网网址淵ou need guys to police it themselves, and if youB次元官网网址檙e going to run around and make a big hit, youB次元官网网址檝e got to know that sometimes youB次元官网网址檙e going to have to deal with the consequences.B次元官网网址�
That is certainly the opinion of Steve Oleksy, who HockeyFights.com credits with 107 bouts at various levels, including the NHL. He is 38 and retired and, after at least a couple of concussions and other wear and tear, is sometimes irritated in noisy places. Long drives and playing recreational sports is hard on his hands, which delivered hundreds of punches over the years.
He believes fighting will be virtually extinct a decade from now.
B次元官网网址淚 think it declines exponentially, but I also think the definition of a fight has changed so much,B次元官网网址� Oleksy said. B次元官网网址淭he number of actual punches, actual fights B次元官网网址� what we would deem a fight back in the day B次元官网网址� I just donB次元官网网址檛 think thatB次元官网网址檚 there, either. And I think with that comes the rise in incidents like the cross-checking incident, slashing, two-handers, things like that.B次元官网网址�
Oleksy and many others point to junior hockey and even younger levels of hockey banning or at least discouraging and not teaching fighting as a bellwether for where things are going: Fewer players knowing how to, or being willing to, fight.
FIGHTINGB次元官网网址橲 LEGACY
Like many sports, hockey is facing the fallout from decades of its players when safety wasnB次元官网网址檛 the top priority it is now.
Patrick Sharp, who fought a handful of times as a player and is now in the FlyersB次元官网网址� front office, said he cringes when he sees a playerB次元官网网址檚 helmet come off taking a heavy punch or banging their head on the ice. ItB次元官网网址檚 what happened to George Parros during a fight in 2013 that left him unconscious after falling face first.
The deaths of old-school enforcers like and Bob Probert, who were posthumously found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, has changed some minds when it comes to glorifying fighting the way it used to be. Oleksy contends that heavyweights of that vintage are no longer in the game and the risk of serious injury is much less now.
Dan Gallant, who has run HockeyFights.com since 2016, understands the business aspects of the decline of fighting and believes it to be cyclical. Now, general managers are looking for the next Milan Lucic or Tom Wilson B次元官网网址� the big guy who can play hockey first but also can drop the gloves.
B次元官网网址淭he types of players that teams are going out and looking for to create that championship team have just kind of evolved,B次元官网网址� Gallant said, confident fighting will never totally disappear. B次元官网网址淲ho knows what tomorrow might bring, but I do believe that the players that played the game before, being in the game now and the players that are currently here will make sure that fighting does stay in some form or fashion.B次元官网网址�
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