A Ban on Fighting in the NHL

[tulax]

With the success of the U.S. hockey team in the Olympic tournament, hockey has been getting a lot of main stream coverage recently. I've noticed that a common theme in the analysis of the tournament is that Olympic hockey is much more exciting than NHL hockey. There are obviously a lot of factors, such as a reduction in the amount of teams and national pride, that contribute to the increased excitement with Olympic hockey. However, I can't help but thinking that the absence of fighting and dirty hits may be enhancing the image of the sport during the games. I get the nagging feeling that this is considered a "cult sport," as Ryan Miller described, in the U.S. due in part because of fighting and other barbaric activity.

 

People understand that hockey is a very physical, and often violent, sport in which injury does happen. However, we are living in a society that no longer feels that, for example, a concussion is only a head ache and thus something to play through. There is an understanding that if leagues can take preventative measures to protect their players from overt violence then they should do so. So when a fight breaks out, or a dirty hit is made, I think it turns off a lot of potential hockey fans.

 

So, do you feel that fighting in NHL hockey is part of the game and should remain? Is it time to get rid of fighting for good?

[VansTheMans]

I think Olympic hockey being more exciting than NHL hockey has to do with the raw skill level. Every player in Olympic hockey is the best of the best.

[Bmwolf21]

I voted No. I don't see any need to eliminate the spontaneous fights that occur, but the staged "your-enforcer-versus-my-enforcer" fights that seem to have no place in the game.

 

I do support more stringent penalties for fighting (and pretty much every aggressive penalty) as a form of a deterrent. If someone knew that he was going to be gone for be gone for 10-15 minutes every time he dropped his gloves, maybe that would curb some of the unnecessary fights.

 

Course I could be talking out my ass right now because I am tired and hopped up on sugar and caffeine.

[Bmwolf21]

I did see some elements that I liked in Olympic hockey, though. I liked the bigger area behind the net. I think the prospect of getting caught in no-man's land cut down on goalies playing the puck more than the etch-a-sketch lines the NHL uses, and I loved the no-touch icing. I would like to see a modified version of that in the NHL. I think there was also a rule that if you lost your helmet you had to get it and put it back on, you couldn't keep playing without. Not that the NHL dinosaurs would go along with that, but I liked it.

[deluca67]

I voted no. I look at the Sabres and think fighting should not only be legal but it should be mandatory. For example, if Scott Gomez runs your goalie and injures him any player on the ice that does not drop his gloves and go after him should get a automatic 1 game suspension.

[Misanthrope]

With the success of the U.S. hockey team in the Olympic tournament, hockey has been getting a lot of main stream coverage recently. I've noticed that a common theme in the analysis of the tournament is that Olympic hockey is much more exciting than NHL hockey. There are obviously a lot of factors, such as a reduction in the amount of teams and national pride, that contribute to the increased excitement with Olympic hockey. However, I can't help but thinking that the absence of fighting and dirty hits may be enhancing the image of the sport during the games. I get the nagging feeling that this is considered a "cult sport," as Ryan Miller described, in the U.S. due in part because of fighting and other barbaric activity.

 

People understand that hockey is a very physical, and often violent, sport in which injury does happen. However, we are living in a society that no longer feels that, for example, a concussion is only a head ache and thus something to play through. There is an understanding that if leagues can take preventative measures to protect their players from overt violence then they should do so. So when a fight breaks out, or a dirty hit is made, I think it turns off a lot of potential hockey fans.

 

So, do you feel that fighting in NHL hockey is part of the game and should remain? Is it time to get rid of fighting for good?

 

Actually there were a ton of dirty hits. If the casual fan missed them, it's only because they have no idea what they're watching, and have trouble enough watching the puck. The excitement was due to the raw skill level and emotion of the players, which can never be matched during an ordinary NHL regular season schedule. I really think playoff hockey is more exciting than Olympic hockey anyway, despite the drop-off in average skill.

 

I actually think it's a shame that the rulebook wasn't called as written during the games. There was a ton of defensive, ugly hockey being played by the most-skilled players in the world because interference and holding weren't called as written. As great as it was, it would have been even better (and the Canadians would have won even more decisively) if things were called as written.

[sabills]

i said no, but i was closer to yes then i ever have been before.

[blugold43]

yea...get rid of it!! waste of time. and while you're at it, let's rip out the first three rows of seats and make the rink the right size.

[SwampD]

I have always believed that hockey would be more popular if fighting was remove from the game. I'm not sure if I care one way or the other but I think it turns a lot of people off.

 

 

EDIT: I think another thing that turns people off to hockey is that all some people see of it are those season ending dirty hits that are the only highliht shown by ESPN. Way to promote the game, dumbasses.

[Buffalo Wings]

I voted No. I don't see any need to eliminate the spontaneous fights that occur, but the staged "your-enforcer-versus-my-enforcer" fights that seem to have no place in the game.

This was never more evident to me than the Andrew Peters fights....5 minutes into the game, he beats someone up, takes his 5 minutes in the box, then maybe plays 2 more shifts during the game. THAT has no place in the game.

 

 

I have always believed that hockey would be more popular if fighting was remove from the game. I'm not sure if I care one way or the other but I think it turns a lot of people off.

I'd have agree. I hear so many people (who usually aren't fans of hockey) say that they'd watch more if there wasn't the petty fighting that makes these "grown men look like kids".

 

I voted no. While I hate the staged enforcer fights, I don't think there's a reason to ban them. This is a tough, physical sport. I think you have to be able to let these guys "vent" on the ice without too much repercussion. 99% of the guys who fight will be buying each other a beer after the game, anyway, so it's not like there's some absolute hatred out there (with the possible exception of the mid-90s Red Wings and Claude Lemieux).

[John Adams]

The fighting is BS. There is more hitting in the NFL and NFL players aren't allowed to fight.

 

No sport allows fighting. It's a black eye on the NHL that it is permitted and encouraged.

[nobody]

A ban on fighting would have done nothing to stop the crosscheck to the face that happened to Ennis.

[sullim4]

It has nothing to do with the fighting. What kills the NHL is the clutching and grabbing that keeps being allowed, if not encouraged. The Devils and their trap play make the NHL boring. When you see teams like Buffalo and Pittsburgh go at it, you see a lot less of that nonsense and far more skill play.

 

Fighting has nothing to do with it. Fighting needs to stay in the game to act as a deterrent to cheap shots.

[PASabreFan]

It has nothing to do with the fighting. What kills the NHL is the clutching and grabbing that keeps being allowed, if not encouraged. The Devils and their trap play make the NHL boring. When you see teams like Buffalo and Pittsburgh go at it, you see a lot less of that nonsense and far more skill play.

 

Fighting has nothing to do with it. Fighting needs to stay in the game to act as a deterrent to cheap shots.

 

Not a very good deterrent, apparently. That old saw has been around forever.

 

Fighting is there to entertain some of the knuckle-dragging customers during the regular season, in a sport where those games don't always entertain.

[JujuFish]

I voted No. I don't see any need to eliminate the spontaneous fights that occur, but the staged "your-enforcer-versus-my-enforcer" fights that seem to have no place in the game.

 

I do support more stringent penalties for fighting (and pretty much every aggressive penalty) as a form of a deterrent. If someone knew that he was going to be gone for be gone for 10-15 minutes every time he dropped his gloves, maybe that would curb some of the unnecessary fights.

That would all but guarantee that all the fights were just enforcer vs. enforcer. What skater--who can actually produce points--would in their right mind fight, thereby eliminate themselves for a quarter of the entire game?

[sabills]

Not a very good deterrent, apparently. That old saw has been around forever.

 

Fighting is there to entertain some of the knuckle-dragging customers during the regular season, in a sport where those games don't always entertain.

 

I think they've gotta cut down the number of games. 60 games, season ends in May instead of june when i no longer care about hockey if my team isn't playing.

[That Aud Smell]

I don't see any need to eliminate the spontaneous fights that occur, but the staged "your-enforcer-versus-my-enforcer" fights that seem to have no place in the game.

I voted no. I look at the Sabres and think fighting should not only be legal but it should be mandatory. For example, if Scott Gomez runs your goalie and injures him any player on the ice that does not drop his gloves and go after him should get a automatic 1 game suspension.

these two posts accurately capture my view on the subject.

 

i read some fairly intelligent pundit's utterly circular (and therefore idiotic) explanation of how staged fighting actually works as a proxy for misdeeds that occur elsewhere in a game, in a season, in a career. (e.g., your goon is going to have to go with our goon because your 3rd line grinder took liberties with our 4th d-man.) horse feathers, i say.

 

 

Actually there were a ton of dirty hits.

was that malone who got called for a trip when he slew-footed heatley yesterday?

 

Fighting is there to entertain some of the knuckle-dragging customers during the regular season, in a sport where those games don't always entertain.

that's fair.

[Sabre Dance]

I voted "Yes", but only to mean that fighting as it currently exists should be banned. If keeping fights in the game means one or two "staged" battles, I say ban it outright. Otherwise, why not set up a ring at center ice between periods and let a couple of AHL-level cement-heads duke it out.

There was a reason fighting was part of the game - it was because you don't let guys on the other team take liberties with your teammates. If Gretzky was playing in this day and age, he'd be beat on constantly (and would probably have taken several head shots by now). Either let the players police themselves or start consistently enforcing the rules on running goalies, shots to the head, etc.

 

That being said, the hockey that was played during the Olympics was awesome! You don't NEED the fights if the hockey is entertaining enough on its own...

[That Aud Smell]

the hockey that was played during the Olympics was awesome! You don't NEED the fights if the hockey is entertaining enough on its own...

it certainly was awesome.

 

what i will add is this: it's neither fair nor reasonable to expect the nhl's regular season product (hell, even its playoff product for the most part) to resemble the hockey that is played during a 2-week tournament featuring elite players who are playing at the very, very high level that, as far as i can tell, only nationalism or the stanley cup playoffs can reliably inspire.