Fighting has to go

[sr edler]

You would have MORE violence in the NHL if fighting was illegal, not less.

I don't really care that much personally about fighting, whether it's in the game or not, but there's no correlation between less fighting and more cheap shots, this is 100% fantasy. Cheap shots were absolutely through the roof in the 90s along with fighting. Some of the worst cheap shots were committed by fighters themselves, by the way, the same people who according to your fantasy would decrease cheap shots. Go on YT and watch Matt Johnson sucker punch Jeff Beukeboom in the back of his head (I think effectively ending his career).

Bryan Marchment was a knee on knee cheap shot specialist who fought all the time. Ulf Samuelsson also fought quite often. Fighting didn't stop Dale Hunter from committing the most outrageous cheap shots. Tie Domi was a cheap shot artist. Et cetera. Et cetera.

 

[HockeyRick33]

Fighting is part of the game. If you play hockey you do so accepting that there will be fights.

It also helps bring some of the stars egos in check because while the stars score a lot they probably should refrain from making any disrespectful sounds with their mouths.

However with that being said, if there is a fight where a player is killed or extremely injured, this no longer a NHL issue but a legal issue. Just as both players accepted that fighting is a part of hockey, they also are responsible for their actions entering a fight.

 

[Reality Czech]

It does exist. Not as much (which is a good thing), but it still exists.

Fighting is archaic. There is a reason why hockey is the only team sport in which it is allowed. Because it is f***ing stupid.

Well, all I can say is the majority of players and coaches would disagree with you. If it comes a point where a majority of players want to ban fighting then it might happen, but that likely won't happen for awhile.

Like it or not, it is part of the game. Personally I don't want the NHL to become more like European or women's hockey. People are free to watch that if the chance of a fight breaking out bothers them.

 

[Legionnaire11]

It's been said three times already here, but needs to be mentioned again...

Go watch "Ice Guardians"

It deals exclusively with fighting and has scenes about head injuries.

 

[HockeyRick33]

It's been said three times already here, but needs to be mentioned again...

Go watch "Ice Guardians"

It deals exclusively with fighting and has scenes about head injuries.

Watching now..thank you for re-mentioning

 

[PensandCaps]

Absolutely. It's so barbarian and dumb. [MOD]

 

[Andy]

It will eventually. Especially with the trend we’re going in, with all this dumb cancel culture bs.

Fights in hockey have been decreasing since before “cancel culture”.

Other myths in this thread: “decrease fighting and cheap shots will increase.” This is false, fighting has already been decreasing for years and we haven’t seen cheap shots increase. In fact, the league is probably the cleanest I’ve seen since watching almost 20 years now.

the trend towards having skilled depth throughout the lineup has been an indirect cause to the decrease in fighting in the league.

Young players drafted nowadays play in leagues where fighting is discouraged or banned. Even if the league doesn’t intervene with a hard ban, we’re going to see fighting effectively eliminated as more and more these youth are drafted and the older players retire.

as for the decrease in masculinity complaints. Concepts of masculinity change over time. Men in France once wore skirts and tights with curled wigs. This was seen as manly. The idea that fighting and masculinity go hand in hand is so silly. Societies change all the time. There won’t be any moral collapse because an entertainment sport removes fighting

 

[HabsQC]

I agree. Just enforce tbe rules properly and fighting won't be needed. Heck put a 3rd referee in the pressbox who can call penalties the other refs don't see.

 

[bigtim1988]

No, they should never, ever eliminate fighting in the game. It’s one of those things that make hockey great; the fact this is the only sport where players can police themselves, and provides a means of punishment that the refs can’t provide, adds an element that other sports just don’t have. It keeps guys honest(for the most part)

Everyone agrees staged fights suck, and they do, but a fight that’s spontaneous, fueled by emotion, is wonderful

 

[Fatass]

Wasn’t bare knuckle boxing banned 100 years ago? Even the MMA has padded gloves for striking. But the NHL allows guys to bare knuckle fight? It’s only a matter of time before fighting is gone.

 

[missingchicklet]

There's a reason the vast majority of NHL players want fighting to stay according to every player survey. NHL players understand the game better than anyone. I don't understand how anyone who watches the NHL and follows the league's clown-show system of reffing and punishments can possibly think ending fighting will result in a better product and better player safety. Getting rid of fighting will profoundly change the game, and it will not be for the better.

 

[LouJersey]

The last all time great hockey season was 2011

I’d rather watch Colton Orr as a 12f than Jimmy Vesey

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Wasn’t bare knuckle boxing banned 100 years ago? Even the MMA has padded gloves for striking. But the NHL allows guys to bare knuckle fight? It’s only a matter of time before fighting is gone.

the people who hate fighting have been saying this for 20 years.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

fighting has to pokemon-go to the polls

 

[Norwegianoiler]

I don't really care that much personally about fighting, whether it's in the game or not, but there's no correlation between less fighting and more cheap shots, this is 100% fantasy. Cheap shots were absolutely through the roof in the 90s along with fighting. Some of the worst cheap shots were committed by fighters themselves, by the way, the same people who according to your fantasy would decrease cheap shots. Go on YT and watch Matt Johnson sucker punch Jeff Beukeboom in the back of his head (I think effectively ending his career).

Bryan Marchment was a knee on knee cheap shot specialist who fought all the time. Ulf Samuelsson also fought quite often. Fighting didn't stop Dale Hunter from committing the most outrageous cheap shots. Tie Domi was a cheap shot artist. Et cetera. Et cetera.

This is it! The logic is that enforcers police the game and thus decrease players taking liberties - but as they are stronger and know they can stand up to anyone they are the main culprits of cheap shots anyway. It works just the same way as the brown or black shirts of the interwar years policing the streets by beating people up to stop all the beating up of people. Look at all this crime that's happening. The fights are post fact, and hence satisfy some of the need we have to see retribution, but from the data appear to do f*** all with prevention, which is the real issue at hand.

 

[YMCMBYOLO]

It’s too bad Kassian got hurt but I don’t have much sympathy for the guy. He’s a cheap shot artist. It is what it is

 

[Fatass]

the people who hate fighting have been saying this for 20 years.

Personally, I enjoy watching fighting in the game. I just can’t see it staying though.

 

[tp71]

With most of the sports-people worrying about the increasing amount of head injuries in the game it's quite baffling that bare-knuckle fighting on ice in a ball game is still supported by the conservative hockey fan base. It's just stupid macho shit and it does not have a place in modern hockey. Taking them out of the game reduces head-injuries without changing the game in any meaningful way. Just watched the Oilers-game and what a pointless and dangerous looking injury Kassian suffered as a result of that fight.



And you can do it step-by-step. In Finland for a long time there's an automatic 1 game suspension if you fight and that only makes fight very rare. Make it 3 games and fighting virtually stops.

And yeah yeah, world's gone soft and all that but this is hockey with enough toughness and injuries even as it is. I used to think that fights were okay (never was a fan of that aspect of the game TBH) but with all the evidence about the brain damages and even lost lives of NHL-fighters I've come to think otherwise. Would it really be that bad if fighting was banned?

Fighting is already banned. You get a 5 minute penalty for it. If you were allowed to fight, you'd dust off and go on playing.

Just as tripping and high sticking are banned.

You can certainly make penalties stiffer, but as it stands, fighting is at an all-time low and is slowly fazing itself out.

 

[Norwegianoiler]

Fighting is already banned. You get a 5 minute penalty for it. If you were allowed to fight, you'd dust off and go on playing.

Just as tripping and high sticking are banned.

You can certainly make penalties stiffer, but as it stands, fighting is at an all-time low and is slowly fazing itself out.

You could make the point that immediate ejection from the game and lengthy suspensions would eradicate fighting though. Perhaps it would lead to more scrums, jabs, and other less "honorable" methods of retaliation, but nonetheless it would take fighting out of hockey save for players completely losing their heads as they do in (almost) any sport.

 

[BlueDream]

Nope. Take your soft ass somewhere else.

 

[Dread Clawz]

I don't really care that much personally about fighting, whether it's in the game or not, but there's no correlation between less fighting and more cheap shots, this is 100% fantasy. Cheap shots were absolutely through the roof in the 90s along with fighting. Some of the worst cheap shots were committed by fighters themselves, by the way, the same people who according to your fantasy would decrease cheap shots. Go on YT and watch Matt Johnson sucker punch Jeff Beukeboom in the back of his head (I think effectively ending his career).

Bryan Marchment was a knee on knee cheap shot specialist who fought all the time. Ulf Samuelsson also fought quite often. Fighting didn't stop Dale Hunter from committing the most outrageous cheap shots. Tie Domi was a cheap shot artist. Et cetera. Et cetera.

Yes, the game in the 80's and 90's was pretty rough. But there are no real tough guys or maniacs in the NHL anymore. They've all been phased out. You don't have to worry about the Marchments, Samuelssons, Hunters, and Messiers. You can't expect a bunch of aggressive athletes confined to a small box playing a fast, physical game to keep their tempers in check and behave like perfect gentlemen. That is the fantasy here. They have to be allowed to get their hostility and aggression out. Theyre gonna get it out one way or another. And if you really can't understand this, I question if you have ever played sports on any semi-competitive level. If fighting were made illegal, it would be arguably worse in today's game because what you have now is a bunch of pests who revel in taking sneaky cheap shots and then skating away and don't feel the need to answer for them. There is no code like there was a generation ago. There would be a ton of injuries and violence if fighting were illegal. There's a reason why nhl players do not want to get rid of fighting.

 

[Hanji]

Nope. Take your soft ass somewhere else.

Speaking of being 'soft', hockey is probably the softest and less physical of the main heavy hitting physical sports (football, rugby). None of the others allow fighting, unless fighting is the main objective (boxing, MMA).
Seriously, compared to NFL guys, NHLers are wimpy as heck. The statement that "fighting = manliness" is a false premise.

 

[Puck Dogg]

Wasn’t bare knuckle boxing banned 100 years ago? Even the MMA has padded gloves for striking. But the NHL allows guys to bare knuckle fight?

The thought sounds brutal but what separates hockey fights is that the fighters are on ice with skates. The punches don't have similar power to them compared as if they were standing on solid ground.

 

[Reparlana]

With the nhls officiating enforcing is still needed to a much lesser deal. Avs first round Schenn goes knee on knee and landy policed that pretty fast when the blues said they were going to bully the Avs.

 

[Hanji]

The thought sounds brutal but what separates hockey fights is that the fighters are on ice with skates. The punches don't have similar power to them compared as if they were standing on solid ground.

That, and it's very low in technique and talent in comparison to boxing. Bare knuckle boxing was downright brutal savage. Hockey fighting is like 2 drunk guys throwing haymakers at each other in a bar.