I think that's the kicker for me...How many people shell out hundreds of dollars to go watch a hockey game with the expectation of watching a fight? I mean, it's a nice sweetener for some but people who want to watch fights watch fighting sports. Hockey fights generally are pretty boring, short, quick wrestling matches with a majority of punches to the helmet and a take down. People would probably whine at first but it's hard to imagine a lot of paying customers giving up watching NHL hockey over it, even if they say they would. People whine about all kinds of changes, a lot of people were going to stop watching if the NHL adopted the shootout.
I'm not even necessarily making an argument AGAINST fighting in the league, just that I don't believe the bottom line will be impacted too much. It's pretty inevitable with everything we're learning about concussions and what headshots are doing to these guys after the fact that fighting will be out of the NHL, whether we like it or not IMO. TBH it's harder for me to enjoy fights or big hits than it was just from some of the things I've learned about the effects of head trauma in sports.
90% of fights are terrible, no punches landed, just a lot of tugging and grabbing that ends with a takedown.
It's rare you'll see the type of fight that we saw last week with Lucic/Rechliz where two guys are just going toe to toe.