Fighting in the NHL: A Different Take

Over the past couple of months, fighting in the NHL has been lambasted by so-called “sports experts”. Most of this fodder is coming from people who have no interest in the sport. They have no interest, therefore, are ignorant to the history of the sport, and what role fighting plays in that vast history. True hockey fans know exactly why fighting is in the sport. It exists for many reasons. Maybe a skill player is getting too much physical play from a defenseman, or maybe that player has crossed the line with your skill player. Also, fighting can be the same as the two-out hit that sparks a rally. It angers a true hockey fan, like myself, to hear the NHL being compared to the WWE. It shows that whomever is making the comparison has absolutely no knowledge of what they are talking about. You do have to understand why, when you see incidents like Todd Bertuzzi, Chris Simon, and Marty McSorley, these talking heads would come out against fighting. They are just merely reacting in their own uninformed way to what they saw. To make the off-the-wall comparisons that they do, they are like the caveman who first saw fire.

Those of us who respect hockey, and its history know that fighting in hockey can be a way to prevent heinous acts, such as Todd Bertuzzi’s sucker punch on Steve Moore February 16, 2004. Bertuzzi told reporters after the game that he was retaliating after Moore hit Canucks forward Markus Naslund causing Naslund to suffer a concussion. There was no penalty or suspension as a result of the hit, however, it did leave many in the Canucks organization angered. The result was Brad May telling the media that he was putting a “bounty” on Moore’s head, and then the Bertuzzi incident.

Could there have been a way to stop that? Absolutely. Many of the talking heads led you to believe that banning fighting would have prevented this. Let me suggest that if they did ban fighting, not only would the incident would have happened, it would have been worse.

Something the talking heads forget about is a rule about instigating a fight, this rule was put into place to curb, but not eliminate, fighting. It is rule fifty-six-a. It reads, “A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major for fighting and a ten minute misconduct.” This rule was put into place in 1992, to make the game more marketable.

The argument for this rule is that it has done its job, hockey is more marketable, it translates to television easier, and fighting is down. That’s a blatant lie. Even with the new rules in place to aid offense, the ratings have never been lower. Also, if someone would please explain to the class how you would market a guy like Sidney Crosby if Bryan McCabe took his knees out?

If you were to modify this rule, or even eliminate this rule, star players like Crosby, his teammate Evgini Malkin, Washington Capitals forward Alexnader Ovechkin, and other skill players would not have the need to drop the gloves. Getting back to the Moore point, Steve Moore was getting a reputation as a “headhunter” when his incident happened. A “headhunter”, in NHL slang, is someone who injures the skill players in the attempt to benefit his team. If said instigating rule was not in place, a Canuck would have just simply gone over to Moore, fought him, and the incident would have been over. If, per say, fighting had been banned in hockey, what would have stopped Bertuzzi, May or any other Vancouver Canuck to simply bash his stick against Moore’s head and possibly kill him? No one could have fought that player in fear of suspension, especially near playoff time. What would have stopped Chris Simon earlier this season, if fighting was banned, to not go that inch lower, and possibly kill Ryan Hollweg?

This is a dangerous game. It’s played with blades on every player’s feet, sticks in every player hands. Not to mention, it’s a 220-pound guy coming at you at almost twenty miles per hour. In football, you have to only worry about a 300-pound guy coming at you at just six or seven miles per hour. The players who play hockey are tough; there are no doubts about it. However, if you are serious about increasing offense, if you are serious about curbing major incidents, then you know why fighting should never be banned in the National Hockey League.