What would your interest level be if fighting was completely banned from the NHL?

[DowJones]

It is quite interesting how much things have changed the last 10-15 years or so. If this poll was asked 2008 on HFBOARDS I bet the results would be huuuugely different.

It wouldn’t surprise me if fighting will more or less disappear by itself. IMO it seems that the players, in general, are much less interested in fighting for every year.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I'd start to lose interest if it was outright banned rather than discouraged/penalized, as in a fight would automatically give both players a long suspension.

Not that I actually care about the fights, it would just signal to me that the NHL has completely abandoned its traditional fanbase and focused on growing it in new markets and that hitting in it's current form is going to be on the way out through the next decade.

 

[Machinehead]

Completely unchanged.

I don't mind watching fights but hockey fights are objectively bad. Guys balancing on skates smacking plastic.

The scrums are more entertaining.

 

[NyQuil]

I never mind two legitimate hockey players having a scrap, especially in the playoffs in a really contentious series.

I was getting pretty tired of the "enforcer" who would be paid for his 5 minutes of icetime and 5 minutes in the box fighting an exact clone of himself for no real purpose.

I think a lot of the bad blood had started to disappear so you have these bizarre show-fights where the only guys these behemoths could fight were each other, and you'd see the two of them chatting in the boxes afterwards, probably because they had a lot more in common than any kind of real animosity.

I remember when we had Konopka, he'd routinely get his fight out of the way in the first five minutes of the game, for whatever reason, so the "momentum shifting" aspect that some people try to use as justification was a non-factor.

When taking my sister-in-law (she's Mexican) to her first NHL hockey game, she asked, "Why are those two players fighting and everyone is just watching them?" and I really struggled to provide a legitimate answer.

 

[Bileur]

I’d keep watching but regularly grumble about “in my day” which I already do anyway, so probably not much change.

 

[DowJones]

I never mind two legitimate hockey players having a scrap, especially in the playoffs in a really contentious series.

I was getting pretty tired of the "enforcer" who would be paid for his 5 minutes of icetime and 5 minutes in the box fighting an exact clone of himself for no real purpose.

I think a lot of the bad blood had started to disappear so you have these bizarre show-fights where the only guys these behemoths could fight were each other, and you'd see the two of them chatting in the boxes afterwards, probably because they had a lot more in common than any kind of real animosity.

I remember when we had Konopka, he'd routinely get his fight out of the way in the first five minutes of the game, for whatever reason, so the "momentum shifting" aspect that some people try to use as justification was a non-factor.

When taking my sister-in-law (she's Mexican) to her first NHL hockey game, she asked, "Why are those two players fighting and everyone is just watching them?" and I really struggled to provide a legitimate answer.

This is pretty much exactly what I always have felt about fights. I have never tuned in on a game hoping for a fight to happen. But when two 20+ minute guys decide to fight I am totally ok with it.

But the staged fights, which thankfully rarely occurs anymore, between two guys, with nothing personal against each other, that is dressed for 25 games/year with an avg ice time of 2 minutes/game go at each other it’s just pathetic.

 

[jetsv2]

I enjoy a good hockey fight, but I dont watch hockey for the fighting. There have been maybe 3-4 fights during Jets games this year and I have watched every game. I wouldn't change that if those 3-4 fights hadn't happened.

 

[412 Others]

I do often question the role that fighting should have in this beautiful game. I have no such thoughts about spearing though. Would like to preserve that if possible.

 

[JasonRoseEh]

Fighting belongs in the game, but the NHL has hampered it to such a degree that it no longer feels like it should be a part of the game which is solely on the league, not on the players. I`m not sure how I`d feel or if I`d watch less hockey, all I know is it wouldn`t sit well with me as a fan and I`m sure almost every hockey player past and present agrees.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

It wouldn't change how much I watch but I'd be disappointed that it was gone.

 

[Machinehead]

I'm genuinely curious as to what the people who voted they didn't watch are doing right now?

There's a fight every 5-10 games now.

 

[CanadienShark]

It wouldn't change a single thing in my mind.

 

[SouthWest]

I never mind two legitimate hockey players having a scrap, especially in the playoffs in a really contentious series.

I was getting pretty tired of the "enforcer" who would be paid for his 5 minutes of icetime and 5 minutes in the box fighting an exact clone of himself for no real purpose.

100% agree, I don't want to see fighting as a necessary 'part' in the game, but I want it to continue to be an 'option' of the game. I wouldn't stop watching if it was banned, but I think people underestimate how much it would change the game if it wasn't around. The diving and crying the likes of soccer or basketball would then immediately be pulled into the product.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The diving and crying the likes of soccer or basketball would then immediately be pulled into the product.

Yes because nobody embellishes in the NHL now.

 

[La Bamba]

fighting now is nothing like it was a decade ago so i wouldn't care if it got banned at this point. players can't even take their helmets off and there aren't any more 'goons' or enforcers in hockey (e.g. Colton Orr, Georges Laraque, the Boogeyman) so that component of the game is already dead to me

 

[CatchyTune]

i wouldnt give a crap

 

[CatchyTune]

I'm genuinely curious as to what the people who voted they didn't watch are doing right now?

There's a fight every 5-10 games now.

its not watching the fights itself, its the principal of it for them. "hrrr drrr so soft these days, miss da 70's" blah blah blah. we all know that wouldnt be the deciding factor in watching.

 

[EdJovanovski]

I’d still watch it but hockey is infinitely better with fights.

 

[ScaredStreit]

I don't think I'd actually watch less but I would be disappointed and not as motivated to watch. Fighting serves an important role in the game. PS: it's actually not allowed as it's a major penalty.

 

[BlueDream]

The game wouldn’t be nearly as good so I wouldn’t be as invested.

 

[JarvisFunk]

I would be upset, and it would be a step closer to an outright ban of physic contact, but I would begrudgingly watch as I grew up playing and it's ingrained in my DNA.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

I'd start to lose interest if it was outright banned rather than discouraged/penalized, as in a fight would automatically give both players a long suspension.

Not that I actually care about the fights, it would just signal to me that the NHL has completely abandoned its traditional fanbase and focused on growing it in new markets and that hitting in it's current form is going to be on the way out through the next decade.

Exactly this. If fighting went away organically I wouldn't really care, but if the League were to officially ban it I would boycott the league. Keep politics out of the game and let them play.

 

[7even]

The only people I've met who are really into the fights are brutal casuls

If you're watching the NHL for the fights, to the point you'd quit it if they were removed, you're a self-loathing masochist, because the fights aren't even frequent enough to justify how bad they are. It's like, paying a prostitute for the pillow talk. Cut out the middle and watch UFC or something.

 

[Albatros]

Exactly this. If fighting went away organically I wouldn't really care, but if the League were to officially ban it I would boycott the league. Keep politics out of the game and let them play.

Fighting has never been allowed.

 

[missionAvs]

I would watch the same.