I have noticed this playoff round did not have the nastiness. Now, there is the kinder gentler NHL out there and that plays into it, but I think it may have been softer even compared to 2023. A couple of theories are probably correct. There were lots of early finishes. There may not be a single Game 7 this round. 5 of the series were 5 games or under. I do think though that even last year you would see teams fighting in Game 1 and Game 2 in anticipation of setting a tone. This hasn't happened this year. For example, Toronto really needed someone to drop the mitts after Game 1 or Game 4 if only to set a tone, to show you aren't going down easy.
Overall, fighting in the regular season has seen slight bumps this year. 0.26 fights per game, which is not all that much, but it is higher than 4-5 years ago.
Someone might be right who mentioned that hockey has turned into a rich kid's game with preppy kids playing it. Not farm boys so much. Jon Cooper wasn't far off with his comment the other day about skirts when discussing his series.