A vast majority of football players feel that NFL’s attempts to make the game safer have created a negative impact on the state of the game. The number of penalties in the new NFL game feels like triple the number of calls from just six years ago.
The debate over whether or not fighting has a place in today’s NHL has lingered for years. While some fans and analysts believe that fighting serves no purpose in modern hockey, other groups say that fighting is a pivotal part of the game.
The current debate is not whether fighting will continue or stop. There will be fights regardless of any future rule changes. In baseball, the benches clear for the occasional (and extremely entertaining) brawl. In both professional and college football, scrums very often occur after big hits or extensive celebrations. Whether fighting is considered legal or illegal, hockey players teeming with anger and adrenaline will still drop the gloves.
The real question is whether or not fighting should be legal. Currently, fighting warrants a five-minute major penalty. Should the penalty increase? Should a fight yield an immediate game misconduct? Should a suspension result as well? The fact that two players can beat each other senseless, sit down for five minutes and then carry on as if nothing happened is both distinctive and startling.
Fighting should be legal in hockey. Yes, players get hurt fighting. An exorbitant amount more, though, are injured during game play.
Fighting is in hockey’s culture. Being rough and tough has been ingrained in the mind of every hockey player at every level, and there is no better way to express one’s toughness than by winning a fight.
More importantly, though, fighting is an integral part of player safety. Fighting provides a police force of sorts to protect a team’s star players. If a given team has no good fighters, they may be bullied throughout the game.
Steps have already been taken toward forming a tamer NHL. The Department of Player Safety, under the guidance of Brendan Shanahan, has done an excellent job at removing problem players from the game.
San Jose Sharks forward John Scott has faced harsh disparagement for his overly aggressive play with the Buffalo Sabres. He accumulated 194 penalty minutes in 90 games for the Sabres over the past two seasons.
Patrick Kaleta, a forward currently on Buffalo’s injured reserve, is notorious for delivering cheap, dirty hits. The league pressured the Sabres into placing Kaleta through waivers after he received a 10-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson.
There is absolutely no place for goons like Kaleta and Scott in the NHL. I love big hits, and I love fights, but I also love watching good hockey. I certainly don’t love watching gifted athletes get injured by a dirty hit from a player who averages about seven minutes of playing time per game.
Other bruisers, like Shawn Thornton of the Florida Panthers and Jordin Tootoo of the New Jersey Devils, have been fan-favorites throughout their respective careers. Their grit is contrasted nicely by their charity off the ice. Thornton plays the role of enforcer while simultaneously providing a sound on-ice presence. Hockey will always have a special place for these types of players.
While fighting will always belong in hockey, and should always be legal, line brawls should be outlawed. Consider the game between the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers from 2004. The game featured five consecutive line brawls. The final score was 5-3 in favor of Philadelphia. Penalty minutes ended 213-206, also in favor of Philadelphia.
The 419 penalty minutes recorded in the game are an NHL record. At the end of the game, only five players remained on each team’s bench. In total, 20 players, including each team’s starting goaltender, received fighting majors.
As much fun as that game was to watch, it has absolutely no place in the NHL. Fighting should be used by teams to control each other, and as a means to attempt to change the momentum of a game. If I wish to watch mind-numbing senseless violence, I can watch television or a movie, or play a video game. Hockey players should not box; they should play hockey.
For the record, I thoroughly enjoy college hockey, and fighting is banned in the NCAA. So, I don’t think removing (legal) fighting from the NHL will cripple the NHL’s ratings. It would hurt the fan base, but people would still watch.
Even though fighting is rooted deeply in hockey’s history, I don’t think it is impossible for fighting to be banned from the NHL in the next decade or so. I, along with several thousands of others, would be deeply saddened to see it go. However, hockey is changing. Sports in general are changing. I’m not sure whether or not that’s a good thing yet, but as of right now, the chance that it’s a good thing doesn’t seem likely.
