Fighting in the NHL

Hey folks,
I'm curious to hear what you have to say about fighting in the NHL. There's lots of opinions out there, but I'm curious as to what you think as fans of the game who are obviously more into the NHL than the casual fan.
So, what do you think? Should the NHL continue to allow fighting to be part of its league?

Bird = Word

They should allow it and remove the instigator rule.

The big beef people have is these "staged" fights. Another by-product of the instigator rule along with the advent of the "Super Pest".

What would removing the instigator rule accomplish? I never understood that.

B B B Bird is the Word wrote:What would removing the instigator rule accomplish? I never understood that.

It wouldn't penalize an enforcer, or anyone else for that matter, for trying to get legitimate retribution for a cheap shot or what have you. And it would eliminate the tiresome "staged" fight that has taken the place of the spontaneous slugfest.

so, you think there is value in allow players to drop the gloves in the NHL....but why? just for controlling the cheap shots? Shouldn't it be considere a somewhat of a cheap play when an enforcer drops the gloves to beat the snot out of a skill player?

That doesnt happen though, and never really has.

Well, never is another one of your patented absolutes. Are you forgetting Lindy Ruff?

so, if the enforcers never took on the skill guys, who very well could be a cheap shot artist, then what's the need for the fighting? does it really send a message to anyone when two enforcers beat the Dung out of eachother?

If the skilled guys take cheap shot, then they will be putting their teams in danger of losing those games because they are not on the ice. They take dumb penalties, the coach doesnt play them.

Players usually want to do whats best for the team.

I think fighting is something that gets the crowd excited and will likely never be removed from the game. Do I think it needs to be a part of the game? Personally I say no. The problem is if it is removed then the Refs better do a better job of policing all over the ice because if cheap shots happen behind the play then with fighting gone it's likely that there'll be increased stick work, slashing and the like.

it looks to me like the stick work has decreased - the dangerous kind - not the "stick is parallel to the ice and touching someone" kind. I certainly think the NHL would be fine without it, and I can't see any downside of removing it completely. Of course, even with an automatic suspension for fighting, it will still be there, but like any other attempt to injure penalty, it will be addressed.

B B B Bird is the Word wrote:it looks to me like the stick work has decreased - the dangerous kind - not the "stick is parallel to the ice and touching someone" kind. I certainly think the NHL would be fine without it, and I can't see any downside of removing it completely. Of course, even with an automatic suspension for fighting, it will still be there, but like any other attempt to injure penalty, it will be addressed.

The thing is that the spur of the moment emotional fights are there to address certain issues that occur on the ice. If fights are removed then frustrations will be taken out in different ways.

SeawaySensFan wrote:They should allow it and remove the instigator rule.

The big beef people have is these "staged" fights. Another by-product of the instigator rule along with the advent of the "Super Pest".

I don't think that you can take out the fighting without the aggression coming out in some other form. Hockey is a fast paced game played on a pair of knife edges and using potentially lethal weapons (to paraphrase).

The introduction of the instigator rule had the effect of increasing the cheap shots in many circumstances, because players knew that the "goon" (not always the heavyweight, could be the Chris Neil type) would come after them to extract payment. Of course, it also led to more of the staged boxing/wrestling matches that are more of a waste of time, despite making the highlight reels.

The skilled player who fired out the cheap shots would generally be subject to retaliation, but then this was the job of the "enforcers" on the same line. And they in turn were countered by the cheap-shot artists on the opposition. If I recall hockey history correctly, Rocket Richard was known as the king of cheap shots, despite being incredibly skilled - I understand that he often had to fend for himself as well.

I'd suggest that a better solution would be to eliminate head-shots, hits from behind, and intent to injure - forget about the two minute penalties for these and start at five, and escalate rapidly to game misconducts, etc. Then introduce financial penalties for the coach, GM, and owner. Finally, force the team to dress one less player while a player is under suspension. If the team has to pay for a player's stupidity, then they will deal with the player, or he won't play.

People who know me at all would be surprised to hear that I'm not fully in support of fighting. I think has gradually become more cultural than useful. When I was growing up fighting was common, but it served a purpose. Whether that purpose be retribution, or simply trying to "hype" up one's team, there was purpose.

Nowadays fighting is trivial. In a world of inch thick padding and visors, injuries from fighting are rare. There is no longer a sense of honour and respect. More than a couple people come to mind who are out there running their mouths and playing dirty, then running scared.

Hockey could fully survive without fighting, as long as the referees did their jobs right. I would remove the instigator, but make fighting majors 10 minute misconducts. Also I would make Head shot and hitting from behind a 4 minute double minor, with a 75,000$ fine, and a possibility of suspension.

Slowly, over time, fighting could easily be taken out of hockey.

I am pro fighting. I am not pro theatrics. I love to see the policemen of the 80's and early 90's ensure that no-one on their team was taken advantage of. That died with the instigator. Now it is something different and I am less of a fan. I would love it to go back to the way it used to be, in lieu of that I would sadly see it go the way of Patrick Stefan's career, slowly into obscurity....