NHL cracking down on fights after clean hits

[sawchuk1971]

I watched the utah/blue jacket game last night. During the game Damon Severson got in a fight with Michael Kesselring where Kesselring had a clean hit on a blue jacket player.

Damon received 5 for fighting and top of that a 2 minute for roughing.

The announcers mentioned the NHL is cracking down on fights after clean hits; that is why Severson received an extra penalty minute for fighting after a clean hit.

Has anyone noticed the change yet?

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[johan f]

Good.

 

[chris kontos]

Teams could always switch to the la kings method of dealing with big hits- mill around in a tight group, grab a couple of guys loosely.
- more time for commercials
-everybody gets a rest
Seriously, throwing punches after a clean hit is dumbass.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

My team doesn’t fight even after dirty hits, so no worries.

 

[madmike77]

I don't have an issue with them over clean hits.

But for hits like the Wild's Lauko on Kevin Bahl two weeks ago, I'm fine with it. Especially when the refs are handing out minors for hits from behind that take a player out for weeks. If you don't let the players police the bad hits then they're going to keep happening.

 

[DickSmehlik]

My team doesn’t fight even after dirty hits, so no worries.

Good to know the Sabres are finally way ahead of the curve on something.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

That's the opposite of cracking down.

Severson should have gotten 2, 5 and 10 and had Cbus without him for 17 minutes instead of 7

The NHL is doing that a lot I've noticed.

They really do it in the 3rd as instigating a fight at a certain point leads to an automatic suspension

Look at Brady Tkachuk going after Dakota Joshua let in a game and he didn't get an instigator as he would have been suspended.

 

[VaporTrail]

Sabres fan here...you mean, you guys got players that will fight ??

 

[Avsfan1921]

I get the concept of camaraderie and being a good teammate l, and have no problem with a player standing up for a clean hit. But it should be an extra, every time.

 

[x Tame Impala]

If someone on my team gets wrecked by a clean hit I'd much rather someone cleanly wrecks someone on the other team in retribution than have them do this ridiculous staged fight.

Fighting has its place in hockey for sure but even the old school fans have to admit it's getting a little staged and dumb more often than not. I think players get concerned they'll be called out as soft if they don't retaliate after their teammate goes down so they overreact.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

Ah yes, NHL officiating changes. They last for about 6 months, and then things regress back. Nothing is permanent, entropy always returns in poorly run organizations.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

 

[Deadpool8812]

Doubt that stops it from happening. Give him an instigator

 

[wmupreds]

The problem with this is it puts the onus on players, who are most likely paying attention to more than just the hit, to decide what's clean or dirty. I'm guessing in some cases the player "coming to his teammate's defense" didn't even see the hit at all.

Personally I think fighting is antiquated and pointless anyway, and I certainly haven't seen anything convincing to suggest it does anything to lessen dirty play. Definitely seems like harsher punishments for dirty play would be a more effective deterrent.

 

[Neil Racki]

I do like the idea of an extra 2.

Every team hates when their guy has to fight after a big clean hit
Every team will start a fight if you lay a big clean hit

Is what it is .. kinda like in OT when 1 team plays an extreme game of keep-away. You love it when its your team doing the yo-yoing and playing possession .. hate when your the team haplessly chasing the puck around

 

[Tobias Kahun]

If only there was an instigator penalty in the rulebook they could call

 

[Ratsreign]

I get the concept of camaraderie and being a good teammate l, and have no problem with a player standing up for a clean hit. But it should be an extra, every time.

Yes, it should. Isn’t that what the instigator is for? But it seems they try to avoid handing those out. Calling it more in that instance will help players to learn to take a number, and return the hard, legal hit later in the game.

 

[Sheppy]

If only there was an instigator penalty in the rulebook they could call

If they only knew how to call it, that would also help. Half of the time there's clearly a player that instigates a fight yet gets nothing.

This one truly left me baffled. Bortuzzo literally jumps off the bench and grabs Kastellic as hes going for a line change, lol.



Look at how this fight starts. Bortuzzo got no extra penalty, lol.

 

[StammerHammer]

It would be a good thing if the league was serious. Rules are made to be broken must be in the rule book somewhere because the refs sure don't like calling the instigator penalty.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

I've always felt, and this isn't something I've backed up with data, that after the rock'em sock'em 80s Refs really stopped using 10 min misconducts as a way to settle games down.

It's an easy tool in their pocket they should rehabilitate.