Poll: Fighting in Hockey

[Double]

I'm thinking fight fans can be generally categorized in the following buckets:

A) Unabashed fight fans- the more the better
B) Fights are good, as long as they're not staged
C) Fights are bad, there's no place in the game for it
D) I used to like fights, but based on what we now know about brains and concucssions, I'm no longer a fan

If there are any other categories I missed, please feel free to chime in.

I'm pretty much in the D camp above. Where would you rank yourself?

Click to read more...

 

[Uberdachen]

I used to like fights, but am generally indifferent toward them now that that's not all there is to look forward to from the team.

 

[gphr513]

I don't hate them. I just find fighting boring. Almost every single time they drop the gloves, I find myself rolling my eyes and thinking "alright, alright, get back to the game"

I can tolerate them when it happens organically in the game, but the canned, out of nowhere, "wanna go?" fights are so incredibly dumb.

 

[W75]

Agree with gphr513

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Little of B, little of D. I enjoy the spontaneous ones where there's a guy pissing someone else off the entire game and they square off and settle it then and there, but with all of the damn head injuries it's kind of hard to watch.

Enforcers are becoming extinct though.

 

[DANOZ28]

until they have 2 refs and all refs & linesmen can call cheap shots i think fighting should be allowed. if they ban fighting watch the rebirth of the cheapshot artist!

 

[keppel146]

Hopefully the nhl is transforming into a speed and skill game. As this happens it will increase in popularity. Even look back 8 years ago, I think the number of viewers have risen significantly.

Physical hockey is still needed and fun to watch, but get those goons outta the game.

 

[Flax0]

I always like a good fight, but if its staged its a no go.

Fighting right off the faceoff is ridiculous, I like to see what happened with the Ducks vs the Sharks last year where the Ducks just got frustrated and were mad. A fight after the game has been getting really rough like the games vs Winnipeg or Colorado are fine as well. Just staged fights shouldnt be happening.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Organic and necessary, I'm fine with.

Someone is running your goalie and you want to pound him, fine.

Two guys that play less than 5 minutes per game want to square off for no reason, no interest in that.

 

[123TripleDoge]

I like them as long as our guy wins

 

[Screaming Buffalo]

I like them as long as our guy wins

So you must hate them?

 

[TZM]

I'd think it prevents worse injuries to happen. It's better that you whip your fists around than tripping, elbowing, charging etc.

Like mentioned, it's boring and has nothing to do with the actual game.

 

[57special]

I grew up fighting, and since I was bigger and liked to bodycheck, tended to get in the odd scrap. When i played all you got was a 5 min. major, then you got back out on the ice.

Since then I have seen too many potentially brilliant careers(Wendel Clark, Richard Mulhern, are two I know of personally... I'm sure there are many more) harmed by fighting.

Besides that, I now find fighting to be a waste of time, for the most part. I associate it with clutch and grab type hockey... what a snooze!

 

[Double]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I used to LOVE watching the fights. In fact, it's one of the first things (along with Peter Puck) that drew me into the game of hockey as a youngster. Now that I am getting a more clear understanding of all that is involved with the "enforcer" lifestyle, and the many pratfalls that come with it- anxiety, depression, addiction, alcoholism, to name a few- not to mention the brain damage these guys are inflicting and incurring- I just cringe when the gloves are dropped now.

I'm not a card-carrying member of the "ban fighting" crowd- not yet, anyways- but I'm getting close to reaching that point. Fighting serves no constructive purpose in hockey. I am open to being convinced otherwise, but it hasn't happened yet. To me, guys are paying way too heavy a price with minimal, if any, return on their investment.

Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.

 

[Screaming Buffalo]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I used to LOVE watching the fights. In fact, it's one of the first things (along with Peter Puck) that drew me into the game of hockey as a youngster. Now that I am getting a more clear understanding of all that is involved with the "enforcer" lifestyle, and the many pratfalls that come with it- anxiety, depression, addiction, alcoholism, to name a few- not to mention the brain damage these guys are inflicting and incurring- I just cringe when the gloves are dropped now.

I'm not a card-carrying member of the "ban fighting" crowd- not yet, anyways- but I'm getting close to reaching that point. Fighting serves no constructive purpose in hockey. I am open to being convinced otherwise, but it hasn't happened yet. To me, guys are paying way too heavy a price with minimal, if any, return on their investment.

Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.

It seems like you're implying that only enforcers fight. Which isn't the case or the future of fighting. We see fewer prototypical enforcers every year and the same will continue. I see the future of fighting being in the hands of third and fourth liners whose main purpose is as an energy/checking line, not as a fighter. Those are the guys who aren't afraid to drop the gloves to stand up for a teammate or reign-in a counterpart who is making an impact with their own physical play.

And it seems like the guys who are struggling with the effects of brain injuries were enforcers who fought often and had repeated head trauma. Not the third and fourth liners who can actually play hockey (though I don't know whether or not that's completely accurate).

 

[ThatGuy22]

I'm thinking fight fans can be generally categorized in the following buckets:

A) Unabashed fight fans- the more the better
B) Fights are good, as long as they're not staged
C) Fights are bad, there's no place in the game for it
D) I used to like fights, but based on what we now know about brains and concucssions, I'm no longer a fan

If there are any other categories I missed, please feel free to chime in.

I'm pretty much in the D camp above. Where would you rank yourself?

For sure missing an indifferent option. I generally just roll my eyes at them at this point, because 90% of the time it takes away from actual hockey being played.

 

[MN_Gopher]

I just want them to get fights right.

When Ballard hit Perry clean there was a fight no instigator. Was it Brodz that went after a guy after he hit our player and he gets an instigator. Exact same thing and two different calls. Any fight after a clean hit should be at least 5+2. If it is a blind side challenge a 5+2+10.

The purpose of the fight is to send a message. The old idea of a good penalty. Make it cost you something like an additional minor.

Sending out your goon squad down 4-1 with 10 seconds left should also be worthy of a suspension and a fine. For player and coach. Thanks refs for not allowing Roy to call a TO to make that line change. Those plays are 100% avoidable.

Watching goon A fight goon b is boring.

The big problem seems to be the cheapshots, knees, elbows and trips. Call those right away and fights go down. Also when the star payer gets his clean, that is not ground retaliation. Or the instigator should be called 100% of the time.

Judging the instigator seems about as hard for refs as it is for umps to use the Buster Posey rule. Make the correct call in each game each time.

 

[AKL]

I don't hate them. I just find fighting boring. Almost every single time they drop the gloves, I find myself rolling my eyes and thinking "alright, alright, get back to the game"

I can tolerate them when it happens organically in the game, but the canned, out of nowhere, "wanna go?" fights are so incredibly dumb.

Yep, this to a T

 

[57special]

It seems like you're implying that only enforcers fight. Which isn't the case or the future of fighting. We see fewer prototypical enforcers every year and the same will continue. I see the future of fighting being in the hands of third and fourth liners whose main purpose is as an energy/checking line, not as a fighter. Those are the guys who aren't afraid to drop the gloves to stand up for a teammate or reign-in a counterpart who is making an impact with their own physical play.

And it seems like the guys who are struggling with the effects of brain injuries were enforcers who fought often and had repeated head trauma. Not the third and fourth liners who can actually play hockey (though I don't know whether or not that's completely accurate).

I know one former NHL enforcer who started to get seizures, physical dysfunction, and memory loss when barely into his 40's. I know another who is just fine.

 

[J22*]

Fighting in the NHL became worthless the second it became acceptable to turn down a fight. Players can no longer police themselves because of the simple fact that players don't have to be accountable for their actions. For whatever reason the NHL decided that it needed to make/interpret rules in order to protect the scum of the NHL There have always been guys like Cooke, Ott, and Garbutt in the NHL but they never had a ton of value to teams until they found out that they can't be touched.

People talk about the phasing out of enforcers as a good thing, but I'm not so sure I agree, especially when those enforcers are being replaced by the Cooke type players.

 

[Randy BoBandy]

I'm all for it. Let the haymakers fly.

 

[Double]

Fighting in the NHL became worthless the second it became acceptable to turn down a fight. Players can no longer police themselves because of the simple fact that players don't have to be accountable for their actions. For whatever reason the NHL decided that it needed to make/interpret rules in order to protect the scum of the NHL There have always been guys like Cooke, Ott, and Garbutt in the NHL but they never had a ton of value to teams until they found out that they can't be touched.

People talk about the phasing out of enforcers as a good thing, but I'm not so sure I agree, especially when those enforcers are being replaced by the Cooke type players.

I couldn't agree more about rats like Cooke being the absolute scourge of the game. The number of players that creep has injured is off the hook. You bring up a good point that rats value immediately increased when they and the teams that employed them figured out they could run around like idiots with little to no repercussions.

I watched almost every game Cooke played during his time with the Wild. He was an extremely effective 3rd/4th line energy guy / checker. Just as I was starting to think, 'Ya know, maybe this guy has changed, then Tyson Barrie. There is just something inherently wrong with the way Cooke is wired. He can say whatever he wants, history shows he has a sustained pattern of hurting guys. What a turd.

 

[josephwild123]

I like the hype it gives people. That seems to be the main reason these days. I also like how its a way for players to say "Don't f with me or my teammates". It's different every fight and game. Some are bad, some good.

 

[Avder]

Would be nice if they got rid of the instigator penalty so it could actually be useful as an enforcement tool.

 

[Sarge58]

When a fight breaks out in the heat of a battle between two players with at least a reasonable level of skill, for me it increases the games intensity level. It's the goonish line fights and staged fights that are as big of a waste of time as it would be if they tacked on a few extra commercials.