The Players' Tribune: Why We Fight by Brandon Prust

[jvcjdudu jcycyxjene]

After seeing what Cooke did to Barrie last year, I've come to realize that some lowly players will take a 5 game suspension in order to take out an opposing key player. If players aren't afraid of the consequences of making dirty plays then more dirty plays will be made.

 

[Theokritos]

Brandon Prust:
I truly believe this: The NHL needs fighting to keep the game safe... Rats are the guys who show zero respect for opponents. They’ll go after the top skill player and take runs at goalies and then won’t answer the bell when it comes time to fight... If you take away fighting, there’s no real consequence for guys taking runs at each other. Sure, if it’s a bad enough hit the league will suspend a guy for a few games, but what does that matter to a fourth liner... If they take fighting out, and guys aren’t worried about answering the bell, I guarantee more people will get hurt from an increase in open-ice body checks.

Okay, I get it, the NHL needs guys like Brandon Prust to protect the players.

Brandon Prust:
We were down 2-0 in the series against the Rangers, my former team. I was still very close with so many of their guys. Henrik Lundqvist is one of my best buddies, and he was standing on his head for them. In my head I’m thinking, How am I going to run him without getting a penalty? How am I going to get under his skin? Am I gonna have to go punch him in the head or something? ... So I had to go out there and hit some people and cause havoc so that I force someone to come after me. On my first shift, I saw a blue jersey making a pass at the blue line and I came across him and tried to finish my check hard. He didn’t see me coming. He went down and stayed down. I knew it was a late hit.

Wait, so guys like Prust are needed to protect the players from – guys like Prust?

 

[ForumNamePending]

Meh... A fighter twisting himself into knots arguing fighters are the only thing that could possible keep hockey from descending into chaos.

Also... Anyone know where I can pick of a copy of 'The Code'?

 

[MarkGio]

I don't buy what he's saying, more specifically the part where he writes that if a rat refuses to fight, it causes his team to lose momentum. How so? He also writes:



Not true. Everyone loves to have a good rat/pest on their team.

No offense, but I choose to believe a professional hockey player over anonymous internet user. Besides, if teams love pests so much, why do they jump from team to team?

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

No offense, but I choose to believe a professional hockey player over anonymous internet user. Besides, if teams love pests so much, why do they jump from team to team?

Who do you think of as pests? Carcillo moves around from team to team. Raffi Torres does too but he's been in the NHL forever. Dallas liked Roussel so much they gave him four years. Cooke and Avery had very long runs in the same place. Burrows and Marchand have been lifers in the same jersey.

I don't think they move around more than any other kind of player and, maybe more controversially, I don't think there's any recognized difference between "pests" and "enforcers" besides size. And, probably, a higher percentage of pests are useful hockey players.

 

[Crazy_Ike]

No offense, but I choose to believe a professional hockey player over anonymous internet user. Besides, if teams love pests so much, why do they jump from team to team?

No offense, but I prefer to choose based on the quality of the argument and the evidence provided, not just who says it. Prust turned himself into a pretzel trying to justify his existence in the league and in the end IMO he failed miserably, and more or less established himself as the sort of thing the league needs less of, just from his own words.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

All Prust's article indicates is that he's an idiot and the league would be better without guys like him.

 

[Kane One]

I think it was a great article.

I don't mind fighting at all. I think right now there's the right balance, or maybe it's just the Rangers who seem to not get into many fights recently.

I just don't see how fighting keeps the game safer, considering there are still dirty hits in the league. There are also dirty hits in international play, where fighting isn't allowed. So both have dirty hits, only one has fighting. Hmm.

 

[Malinator]

Give me an NHL salary and I'll go fight every game. League minimum and I'll get beat up 82 games.

 

[jjyay]

Meh... A fighter twisting himself into knots arguing fighters are the only thing that could possible keep hockey from descending into chaos.

Also... Anyone know where I can pick of a copy of 'The Code'?

Amazon sells a hard copy or an ebook version, maybe check your local library too.

 

[SenzZen]

"So I don't have to dig ditches for a living."

Seems like a short article.

 

[Callista Rhian]

This entire article encapsulates all the things wrong with enforcers and fighting.

What Rinaldo did to Letang was fully justifiable to guys like Prust. Like Rinaldo (whom Prust seems to respect per his tone in the article), Prust thinks that running skilled/star players illegally is OK as it can "swing the momentum of a game". He rationalises it by saying, "golly gee, I need a fight a to swing the game our way but nobody on this team will fight me. What should I do? I know! Run one of their players, illegally if need be! (oh, and players who refuse to fight me are rats and cowards that bring down the game.)"

Which, of course, destroys his entire premise: that fighting keeps the game safe (as fear of retaliation will keep players from seriously hurting each other).

Another thing I find disgusting is that he he thinks fighting someone who delivered a clean hit is OK because he, almighty moron that he is, didn't like it.

Am I against guys standing up for their team mates when justified? **** no (I do feel that scoring a bunch of goals is the best revenge, though). But there is a significant difference between standing up for your team and deliberately making a game dangerous and chippy just to justify your salary.

You know what would really keep the NHL safe? Penalise the teams. If a player does something foolish and gets suspended, the team plays one man short until the suspension ends. Also, reduce the team's cap by the amount the suspended player would have been earning. That will keep the game safe.

 

[plock]

I am pretty ambivalent on the whole fighting thing,I won't miss it if it's gone and I'm not gonna lose any sleep if it stays.However my gut tells me fighting and enforcers are on the way out and guys like Prust are gonna be looking for new jobs.

 

[c-carp]

I saw this on Facebook today, great article and Prust explains the role to a T

 

[c-carp]

Meh... A fighter twisting himself into knots arguing fighters are the only thing that could possible keep hockey from descending into chaos.

Also... Anyone know where I can pick of a copy of 'The Code'?

I'll give you a heads up if you didn't like Prusts article which was great, your head would explode before you read three chapters of "The Code" great book as well, where can I find a copy? Their called bookstores dude, if they don't have it in stock they can order it for you

 

[c-carp]

I am pretty ambivalent on the whole fighting thing,I won't miss it if it's gone and I'm not gonna lose any sleep if it stays.However my gut tells me fighting and enforcers are on the way out and guys like Prust are gonna be looking for new jobs.

If you don't care as you say just let it hang around, some of us love a good scrap

 

[The Expert]

I like fighting but Prust is a bit of a joke now.

 

[sandysan]

I like fighting but Prust is a bit of a joke now.

why is he a joke ? Its not like any other hab was going to stick up for 67 getting run in the numbers against the ducks.

He doesnt fight as much, but he still has no problem punching up and even though we lost last night his goal personified why he is valuable to the habs.

there are lots of reasons to dump on the habs lack of team toughness, but very little or none of it falls on prust's shoulders ( as fragile as they are).

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Okay, I get it, the NHL needs guys like Brandon Prust to protect the players.



Wait, so guys like Prust are needed to protect the players from – guys like Prust?

Insight, it's a real thing

 

[TheSituation]

why is he a joke ? Its not like any other hab was going to stick up for 67 getting run in the numbers against the ducks.

He doesnt fight as much, but he still has no problem punching up and even though we lost last night his goal personified why he is valuable to the habs.

there are lots of reasons to dump on the habs lack of team toughness, but very little or none of it falls on prust's shoulders ( as fragile as they are).

The fact that he ran Stepan just to get someone to fight him is a joke and crushes his entire argument about fighting's effectiveness in curving cheap shots.

 

[Moops]

It’s crazy the things you’re willing to do for the Stanley Cup.

Yet he's not willing to take a couple of punches to the face in that spot?

If I don’t grapple a guy and get him in close, I might wind up throwing a right and landing three inches short of his face and then get split for seven stitches.

This is what would swing the pendulum? He's afraid of getting a few stitches? This is a hockey player we're talking about? This is what passes as a tough guy???

Not buying it.

 

[sandysan]

The fact that he ran Stepan just to get someone to fight him is a joke and crushes his entire argument about fighting's effectiveness in curving cheap shots.

guys who want to fight who are serially declined will press the issue. color me surprised.

Yeah him wanting to get someone to engage him to fight is SOOOOOO much worse than a player like dominic moore who takes a run at weise and but isnt willing to answer the bell, ever.

if you are advocating that guys who play close to the line but are unwilling to fight as the result are preferable to guys like prust, welcome to ratlandia.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

guys who want to fight who are serially declined will press the issue. color me surprised.

Yeah him wanting to get someone to engage him to fight is SOOOOOO much worse than a player like dominic moore who takes a run at weise and but isnt willing to answer the bell, ever.

if you are advocating that guys who play close to the line but are unwilling to fight as the result are preferable to guys like prust, welcome to ratlandia.

Why are you being so dense about this?!? It's not about the other guys refusing to fight. It's about Prust reacting to that by going out and doing EXACTLY what he pretends he is defending his teammates from.

 

[sandysan]

Why are you being so dense about this?!? It's not about the other guys refusing to fight. It's about Prust reacting to that by going out and doing EXACTLY what he pretends he is defending his teammates from.

why are so illiterate ? Unlike the rats, Prust WILL stand up and take his lumps. If you assume that there will be players who will go right up to the line ( and sometimes cross it) to give their team a competitive advantage, the question is clear: do you want these players to answer for this decision or not?

if you choose not, that's ratlandia. hooray!

Seriously who is worse for the league, guys who play to the edge and accept that if the other team thinks they cross it will accept an invitation to dance, or players like matt cooke who cross check players in the face then find their mitts, surprisingly superglued to their hands, or " good guys" like dominic moore who will do what prust does then skate to the bench and think. "well that went poorly, oh well"?

 

[WaltWhitman]

"So I don't have to dig ditches for a living."

Seems like a short article.

"Because Ray Emery started punching me"