Fighting in the NHL

[Harrage12 0]

Now that theres no NHL i find myself researching old hockey videos such as hits, scoring, and my favorite...fights. When the NHL comes back many are saying new rules and changes will occur such as making it easier to score, etc. This is when i think about if fighting will be allowed in the future. If you think about it, Hockey is the only sport where the refs actually allow players to drop the gloves and settle things and i think that is awesome. I am 17 now and i have the feeling that by the time im a dad ill be telling my kids, "back in the day when i was a kid fighting was allowed in the NHL." as by that time fighting in hockey will no longer exist as just 5 minutes in the box. Instead itll be lawsuit and a suspension. I dread the day to see this happen. :(

[Eazy_b97 1]

I don't think they will ever take fighting out of the game. I don't think they can. I do expect the refs to inforce the rules all game long rather than the first to 2nd and a half period, which will be another thing which puts them on a scale with the rest of professional sports.

[Tricky4L 0]

The first recorded exibition hockey game ended in a fight...use that anytime someone argues that fighting isn't in the nature of the game.

[Bruin88 0]

i dont think theres anything wrong with fighting ,it makes the game funner to watch and the players probably dont mind doing it either so yeah ,i dont think its gonna be taken outta the game

[kevinbelt 0]

i don't dislike fighting. i think, if done correctly, it serves a useful purpose and should be kept around. the problem is, it's not done correctly anymore. now, it seems like teams just keep a guy (oliwa, shelley, etc) around for the sole purpose of skating 2 shifts a night to start fights. they're like circus sideshow performers. today's fighters are no different than the sausages they race at intermission in nashville. it's got nothing to do with hockey anymore.

and just for the record, you're not "allowed" to just punch a dude. you get a five minute penalty for it. the punishment just isn't as severe as that of other sports.

-k

[Eazy_b97 1]

The more open the game becomes the less you'll see of tough guys who cannot skate.

[Chadd 916]

Cutting roster size by a couple guys would make a difference too. I like it when guys get pissed after a cheap shot and they take care of the situation. The whole orchestrated, "we're down 2 goals and we need some energy", fight between two guys whose total ice time is less than their PIMs at the end of the night is the type of thing I can do without.

[Michael9 57]

Hockey is the only sport where the refs actually allow players to drop the gloves and settle things and i think that is awesome.

you can fight in lacrosse also

[WingsVK97 0]

I've always thought that a hockey fight is one of the safest fights you can get in. You've got the refs ready to break it up as soon as it's over/someone goes down/someone gets dirty, you really can only throw punches cause you're on ice and need to keep your balance, and you both are padded up. There are more injuries from dirty play and accidents than from fighting. Sure you can get hurt, it is still a fight after all, but I'd rather them throw down where they both can defend themselves, instead of two-hander across the back of knees or head.

But at some point the poofs will again bring up that it looks bad to children and that they should pull out a table with tea and cookies and have the players share their feelings instead. It's the same people that banned dodgeball, said GI Joe is bad, and said that you can't use red ink to grade paper cause it hurt feelings. They will win one day. It will be people who have never played hockey or been to a game, but dislike it just because they see fighting with no understanding of what its for. They've tried befoe and the pro leagues will cave, because the don't want to look bad to the public. You've seen it before and I believe I will live to see it...unfortunately.

[j8Zt8r 0]

I think the instigating penalty will be taken out to let the players go back to policing themselves. With the game speeded up we should see a decline of the sideshow fighters, oliwa,low and all the others who can't skate. Hopefully we start seeing players like Probert again who can take a regular shift, punch in 10 goals a year and play the game. Like the early power forwards, the next generartion will need to step up and help their team. Hopefully, the power forward hat trick will get more than 2 names finally.

50 goals

100 points

200 penalty mins

Stevens and Shanahan could use some company

[Jason Harris 31]

I'd like to see them get rid of fighting because, rightly or wrongly, I think it prevents the NHL from getting a better TV contract.

I'm speaking in generalities here but I think, by catering to the hard core fan who likes to see fighting at the arena, the NHL gives up half the population as potential fans, and I'm sure the networks use that against them while negotiating contracts. I know there are women who like to see fighting, just as I'm sure there are women who like to see crashes in NASCAR, but I think the NHL's reputation for being thugs turns off potential fans.

The reality is the NHL is NOTHING like the seventies. Man, I remember watching a hundred gloves on the ice, and goalies wacking each other, and absolutely loving it. But now I believe the NHL has never been able to live down that reputation. I was watching a game with my wife about a year ago, and she said one of the neatest things to me. She told me, "I'm really glad you turned me on to hockey. It's such a neat game." What went unspoken is she never would have watched a game otherwise, because its reputation scared her off. And I don't think she's the only woman out there that thinks that way.

It's obvious the NHL caters to its hardcore fans, who also obviously love fighting. I believe I read somewhere that the NHL is the only league in the world that doesn't give suspensions for figthts. Does anyone know if that is true? To me, it's one thing if two guys fight out of the flow of the game, but when two guys are sent out to start a fight as the puck is being dropped, it's obvious the NHL is tacitly approving it.

So, again, the question is "Does fighting prevent the NHL from getting a better TV contract." This is probably more to the younger kids, but before you say, "Not at all, because my buddies and I love to see fights," understand that TV contracts are all based on projected advertising dollars, which are all based on demographics. Two shows that pick up different demographics, let's say 10% women for one and 10% men for the other, will have different advertising rates. I have no idea which one would be higher, but I do know that a show that picks up 10% women viewers AND 10% male will get higher advertising rates than either of the other two.

[Chadd 916]

Actually, I believe the complaints about fighting are just a simple excuse to avoid the real truth. The average American has the attention span of a squirrel on crank. If fighting was removed those same people would find another reason to disparage hockey.

10 seconds for a play in football or for a hit in baseball and most viewers are good with it. Watching the 5 or 6 replays of any actual action before anything new happens is also a benefit for the average American. Look at the most popular sports in the US, NFL and NASCAR. You don't have to pay attention to the action because there is plenty of time for replays when something does happen.

Add to that the fact people have a whole new set of rules to learn and you have a large barrier for the average sports fan. Most people just never grew up with the game and that makes it very difficult for new fans.

[Jason Harris 31]

Actually, I believe the complaints about fighting are just a simple excuse to avoid the real truth. The average American has the attention span of a squirrel on crank. If fighting was removed those same people would find another reason to disparage hockey.

Maybe. If you are correct about the complaints being a simple excuse.

But, if they are legitimate reasons that cause a slew of people to not try to watch the game, then I don't think all those people would be looking for another reason to not watch hockey if the fighting was drastically curtailed. Of course, maybe the perceived learning curve you mentioned is an even bigger deterrent for a first-timer to watch the game than the fighting.

But I know we've all met people who think we're a fringe element for playing/liking this sport, even though they've never seen a game. Which is ironic, because I can't think of another sport that creates such passion among the participants that people will play it into their sixties.

[gopens67 0]

i think people should think about the fact that you could go to jail for doing what happens on the ice on the street...I think fighting in general gives hockey players the wrap of unskilled athletes, when hockey is a game filled with more skill than any other.

SalmingUSA...golf creates the same passion.

[Jason Harris 31]

SalmingUSA...golf creates the same passion.

I agree about the passion but, in all sincerity, I consider golf a recreation more than a sport.

I'm defining that by saying a sixty-year-old man who could hardly run one hundred yards can play golf six times a week, but you have to be passionate enough about hockey to stay in a modicum of shape to play.

[Hipster 5]

I'm defining that by saying a sixty-year-old man who could hardly run one hundred yards can play golf six times a week, but you have to be passionate enough about hockey to stay in a modicum of shape to play.

Boy thats true. Its really hard to slowly lose a step and then two and all of a sudden you're not anywhere near your peak, no matter what shape your in.

Can you tell I turn 40 in 2 days? LOL

About the fighting.... I'd like to see the size of the NHL ice surface grow to somewhere approaching Olympic size. It would put a premium back on skating and puck movement over size and strength.

A league that doesn't have a spot for an artist like Simon Gamache but does have room for some 6'3" tree with a stick is maybe focusing on the wrong attributes.

A bigger surface would change the pro game for the better. It would cut down on fighting and increase awesome puck movement.