News Article: Why We Fight by Brandon Prust

[Hoople]

Probably explains why Claude Lemieux-teams never did well in the playoffs.

5 postseason fights in his career.

Two in 1986.

Remember that Cup run?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Spontaneous fights that break out? Sure.

"Street justice" isn't necessary though, the league can dish this out.

/thread.

 

[loudi94]

I don't understand the example about the Ducks game. Had the Ducks player declined the fight, would the result of the game been any different? The argument he makes is that it sends a message to the rest of the league. I'm not so sure it does. I think having him out there does keep players a bit more honest, but if a guy wants to be a "rat", well, they're more effective than he gives them credit for.

 

[No fan fiction]

The Paccioretty story was interesting and the Rinaldo story underlined everything that's wrong with fighting. I still don't think it's necessary in today's game.

"Street justice" only occurs when the refs miss something. And if the refs miss something it should be up to the league to correct it. I see absolutely no reason why the league couldn't start to crack down on stuff more than they do. Lucic spears a guy in the nuts (again) BANG! suspension. You do it again? You're suspended again. Just because the refs miss this crap it doesn't mean it has to be tolerated. You want to get rid of the rats? Punish them afterwards.

Anyways, fighting is there for now and I don't really care. I suppose in some cases it serves a purpose, but it's not an essential part of the game at all. That other stuff can be policed by the league.

My thoughts exactly. I thought it was a pretty sad statement on the game that the players don't think the league or the officials will protect them. Worse, the whole "retribution" or "answering the code" nonsense will never un-injure a teammate. It just puts the team down two players. Unless I'm mistaken, Pacioretty wasn't healed b/c Prust fought the Anaheim player.

The league needs to adopt the NCAA mentality toward officiating: any time a player commits a foul, then the players have decided the outcome, not the officials.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

People really like to hope a crooked law enforcement agency will be there to babysit their players. Me, I believe that it is worth not going out totally unarmed like some insulated 6-figure salary chick who never lived in a tough area. A taser and pepper spray will be there while the cops might take a minute or two at least before you're dead if someone planned their murder out intelligently.

Where the league policing must improve is reining in those dirty hitters like Matt Cooke and Torres sooner instead of letting them run around for years and somehow not getting suspended. Fights cannot contain them and even a suspension didn't stop Cooke from his suspicious skate on Karlsson.

 

[68*]

I’m sitting on the bench thinking, “Okay, I could let this go, but what happens when the rest of the league sees that hit and we don’t do anything about it?â€

The rest of the league saw Kaleta, Laich, Kreider run Price and what did Prust do?

 

[Strat]

this is the first time i've watched a Slap Shot scene that wasn't in french canadian

it's not as funny

It's probably the best translation/dubbing job ever!

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

The rest of the league saw Kaleta, Laich, Kreider run Price and what did Prust do?

And what are we talking about here, and why?

 

[Stoneburg]

it was a pretty sad statement on the game that the players don't think the league or the officials will protect them.

I agree with this statement.

I admit I am entertained when a fight breaks out, I watch some fight videos, but I could live without them too.

The unfortunate reality is that so long as the league is run like "an ol' boys club", the league will not be there to protect players, and the players have to police themselves.

 

[smcgreg]

That's why the best way to get rid of rats is fine the owners. If a rat causes an injury both the rat and team should be fined. Also until the injured player returns the offending team suffers a cap hit for the injured player for up to one year. If the player injured has to retire then the offending team must pay his contract off. Rats will be extinct very fast.

So in Cooke's case when he injured Savard if it was illegal hit which in this case at the time was not the Pens would have to pay a fine to the players amount of suspension. So if Cooke had gotten 5 games then his salary for those 5 games would be the fine to the team. Second if the injured player misses games then his salary counts as a cap hit to the Pens until he returns. This is only for one year max. If the player can't return to play then the Pens would of had to pay his salary for the full amount withing 90 days of knowing the player has retired from injury.

You think teams with employ Cooke's and Avery's after this.

Edit: Maybe all fines to a team should count against next years cap hit as well.

If there really is a legitimate concern about player safety, then something like this is so much more effective than the silly enforcer. As others have pointed out, there are obvious holes in Prust's argument about the role and effectiveness of the enforcer as a deterrent. Once things start hitting not only the player's but the team's pocket books, though, then things will change. Further, if a player gets seriously injured by an illegal hit, something like not only suspending the player in question (expendable), but another player of worth for some time would really eliminate dirty hits. So, if Downie takes a cheap shot and injures Max, then not only is Downie suspended, but Malkin comes out of the line up for a few games. The owners would never agree to it, but that would stop the issue dead in its tracks and an enforcer would never be needed again.

Honestly, I couldn't care less if there is fighting in the game, but the justification that it "deters" cheap plays is a joke. Have enforcers deterred Matt Cooke? What deters cheap plays is financial consequences and/or career consequences. If the player individually didn't care about the consequences, then placing some of the them on the team will solve the problem toot suite.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

My thoughts exactly. I thought it was a pretty sad statement on the game that the players don't think the league or the officials will protect them. Worse, the whole "retribution" or "answering the code" nonsense will never un-injure a teammate. It just puts the team down two players. Unless I'm mistaken, Pacioretty wasn't healed b/c Prust fought the Anaheim player.

The league needs to adopt the NCAA mentality toward officiating: any time a player commits a foul, then the players have decided the outcome, not the officials.

If two players have a fight, okay fine... but you're out of the game. And if you do it repeatedly you start getting suspensions. It's like that in every sport, I don't see any reason at all why it can't be this way in hockey.

Let the league police the 'rat stuff'... Start fining and suspending players for that crap and it will go away in a hurry. We don't see near the head shots in this league that we used to anymore. Why? Because it was policed out of the game by the league. Same thing with this other stuff.

Absolutely no way that Lucic should be skating around spearing guys in the nuts. Just shouldn't happen. Is fighting the guy going to make it stop? I doubt it. But suspending him will.

 

[Team_Spirit]

So this is why Emelin don't hit to hurt anymore ?

Doesn't want his buddy Prusty to call him a 'rat' ?

BTW nice 'deterrent' job on Kaleta....

I love Prust but hate this article.

 

[Hoople]

So this is why Emelin don't hit to hurt anymore ?

Doesn't want his buddy Prusty to call him a 'rat' ?

BTW nice 'deterrent' job on Kaleta....

I love Prust but hate this article.

Emelin is not a head hunter.

Check the self-loathing and try to understand this statement from Prust in the article.

"It’s a stressful job, but I genuinely love the feeling of sticking up for my teammates."

Damn great article.

 

[29dryden29]

Great article wish more guys would live by the code that includes PK from time to time.

 

[Lshap]

Great article wish more guys would live by the code that includes PK from time to time.

It was an enjoyable read and I like Prust, but the code applies to a shrinking circle of players. Guys on our team like Subban and Pleks, and countless others, don't recognize it, and most teams don't gain anything by it.

 

[Whitesnake]

Ryan White broke Matt Martin's nose yesterday...won that fight....which made the Flyers score right after and then made the Flyers win the game...euh...Well at least they got a point...

You're awful White...should have fought again to get that momentum going...

 

[Whitesnake]

So this is why Emelin don't hit to hurt anymore ?

Doesn't want his buddy Prusty to call him a 'rat' ?

BTW nice 'deterrent' job on Kaleta....

I love Prust but hate this article.

I totally agree. Actually, I have no problems with what Prust is saying. I understand where he is coming from, he is protecting the reason why he's in the NHL. Totally understandable. But it's not with articles like that that it will convince people that it's a good thing. On the contrary. His article would be banged on if it would really apply and be more than just a theory.

Mind you, while I want the fighting to be gone as soon as possible, I also believe that you can't do that without a REAL justice being applied, refs calling FOR REAL the rules, and league being WAY MORE harsher on suspensions. The "cheap shots" WILL stop if you can upgrade the fines....but if you can't do that because of the NHLPA, you certainly can transform the 3 games suspensions into 10 games. But the league isn't in the 70's anymore. Where you were REALLY careful or else you'd literally be jumped.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I totally agree. Actually, I have no problems with what Prust is saying. I understand where he is coming from, he is protecting the reason why he's in the NHL. Totally understandable. But it's not with articles like that that it will convince people that it's a good thing. On the contrary. His article would be banged on if it would really apply and be more than just a theory.

Mind you, while I want the fighting to be gone as soon as possible, I also believe that you can't do that without a REAL justice being applied, refs calling FOR REAL the rules, and league being WAY MORE harsher on suspensions. The "cheap shots" WILL stop if you can upgrade the fines....but if you can't do that because of the NHLPA, you certainly can transform the 3 games suspensions into 10 games. But the league isn't in the 70's anymore. Where you were REALLY careful or else you'd literally be jumped.

The problem with the 70s though was that you might also get jumped for doing nothing wrong. Mike Bossy talked about how he got jumped after scoring a goal and said "you're never the same afterwards."

So the advocates for fighting would say... well, that's why you have goons to fight the other goon. Well, get rid of goons altogether and you don't have the problem in the first place.

I agree, let the league police it. The only obstacle might be the NHLPA but if they really do want to get rid of the "rat" from the game then they should get behind it. If they don't, then they shouldn't complain about it.

 

[Sorinth]

It was an enjoyable read but doesn't really bring anything new to the table as others have said it's the effectiveness of the that kind of enforcing is what's questionable.

Prust was right about the league not being a good deterrent. For a 4th liner if they don't play that edgy style which leads to cheap/dirty hits they won't be in the league. So a few games suspension and a fine is not going to deter them at all. If the league really wanted to remove the cheapshots they would start deducting points in the standings based on suspensions.

 

[Drunk World Order]

Great read...I love Prust even more I wish we could clone him. Shaking my head at the tards who don't get it.