Fighting numbers way down this season

[LeHab]

Source: Hockey fight statistics - NHL - hockeyfights.com

Trend towards fighting extinction continues this season down around 33% compared to recent years. Is it safe to say days of enforcers are gone for good?

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[The Macho King]

Good.

 

[Kevin27NYI]

I miss it

 

[Hynh]

This really puts the "not enough talent to have expansion" myth to bed. You'd think that if there wasn't enough talent then 4th lines and 3rd pairings would be filled out with a goon or 2.

 

[Beukeboom]

The problem for me is not so much that the enforcers are gone, but rather that there are less players overall who are willing to drop the mitts. With those salaries it is quite abysmal that they are so afraid of pain.

"Get rid of fighting to get more attendance" meanwhile UFC is growing like crazy...

The beauty of hockey is that you get it all; fights, hits, dekes, passing, speed, instensity, shots and so on. The complete package.

 

[Bizz]

All of the former goons are all too old and retired or on AHL rosters and not enough new goons coming in.

Meanwhile you have new pukes coming in slewfooting and cheapshotting everyone like Tkachuk and Landeskog, so eventually they'll come back.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Good.

yep

fighting has been shown to cause long term injuries to players, and its nice to see more talent in bottom-6 lines. I'm taking cory conacher over bj crombeen all day.

 

[Beukeboom]

yep

fighting has been shown to cause long term injuries to players, and its nice to see more talent in bottom-6 lines. I'm taking cory conacher over bj crombeen all day.

I disagree. I rather have a Tom Wilson than a Johan Larsson. The former is entertaining.

When I see a game I pay to see the McDavids. Two lines of offensively skilled players are enough. Then you have a great checking line and a 4th line of energy players. You want to see things like dekes, hits, nice goals, fights. Guys like Larsson contribute with nothing at all. The Wilsons with several of those things. There is simply not enough ice time for 4 talanted lines. If someone gets more it means less for the McDavids.

Edit: Also fighting stands for less than 5% of all the concussions. Why don't you ban hitting if yo really care about the players? It is not like that is necessary either.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I disagree. I rather have a Tom Wilson than a Johan Larsson. The former is entertaining.

When I see a game I pay to see the McDavids. Two lines of offensively skilled players are enough. Then you have a great checking line and a 4th line of energy players. You want to see things like dekes, hits, nice goals, fights. Guys like Larsson contribute with nothing at all. The Wilsons with several of those things. There is simply not enough ice time for 4 talanted lines. If someone gets more it means less for the McDavids.

Wilson is actually good though. Not a goon, an effective physical third liner.

GOONS are the ones being phased out. Physical bottom 6 players will always have a place.

 

[Beukeboom]

Wilson is actually good though. Not a goon, an effective physical third liner.

GOONS are the ones being phased out. Physical bottom 6 players will always have a place.

Yes but the number of physical bottom 6 players is dwindling. That to me is sad since I find it incredibly boring looking at the Johan Larsson's and the Michael Raffls. They'd be great in a european league with more ice time, but not in the NHL.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Yes but the number of physical bottom 6 players is dwindling. That to me is sad since I find it incredibly boring looking at the Johan Larsson's and the Michael Raffls. They'd be great in a european league with more ice time, but not in the NHL.

I somewhat agree with your premise but Larsson and Raffl aren't the best examples.

 

[Mike McCarron Jr]

I have to keep it 100 the fights brought something to the game the open Ice hit also.Personnaly I lost a lot of interest for the nhl as a whole.

 

[bb_fan]

This really puts the "not enough talent to have expansion" myth to bed. You'd think that if there wasn't enough talent then 4th lines and 3rd pairings would be filled out with a goon or 2.

No.

No it doesn't.

Just because you have more guys that belong in the AHL playing in the NHL is no reflection of that all.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

It's a damn shame. Add it to the list of recent things the NHL gets wrong.

 

[LeHab]

All of the former goons are all too old and retired or on AHL rosters and not enough new goons coming in.

If there was a demand for enforces, they would come.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

If there was a demand for enforces, they would come.

Fights don't need to come from enforcers. Scrums and emotion are at an all time low as well.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Hockey is best played with some hate in the game. Not seeing as much fighting or physicality in general makes for a much poorer product. Looks like a bunch of guys phoning it in for their 6 figure paychecks trying to avoid injury. If bland and boring is what they're going for they're well on their way.

 

[Shoresy Snipes]

I miss it also.
Nothing gets everyone in the arena on their feet like a good old heavyweight haymaker scrap.

 

[Peacekeeper]

Older generations got the belt growing up

Newer generations don't even get spankings, it's no wonder fighting is down

 

[Dirk316]

Without fighting the rivalries have almost disappeared its a shame. The numbers though are partially fake as I've many circumstances this year where 2 players drop the gloves throw punches and it's called roughing instead
Also the refs have not letting players who drop the gloves throw lunches. If you factor that in fighting isn't as down as it appears.

 

[Sheppy]

I don’t like the fact that fighting is slowing getting weeded out. I love a good tilt, staged or not. Hockey is more entertaining when there is the occasional brawl.

I remember when teams absolutely hated each other. You don’t see that much anymore. It sucks.

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that fighting is down or that they hand out “10 minute misconducts” to the tougher players because they’re worried something will happen.

 

[OldCraig71]

Drones on ice is what the NHL wants.

 

[jvcjdudu jcycyxjene]

Too much barbarity and toxic masculinity for folks nowadays.

 

[derriko]

I wonder if anybody has done a comparison of the ratio of # of fights to # of suspensions.

I personally like fighting, and in my two year junior career, which had more fighting than the pros, I never saw anybody get injured other than broken knuckles, and it’s what got the fans into the game.

Like someone mentioned above, rivalries just have nothing to them without the chippyness and fighting. The beat down Ottawa gave Montreal a couple years ago was one of my favorite games in the past decade.

The mega fight games are still some of the most popular in NHL history. Go on YouTube and see what the most popular videos are of the NHL and hockey.

 

[MattMartin]

Maybe the players should take a knee instead of fighting? Has helped the NFL.