After last week’s General Manager’s gathering in Florida, the majority of the discussions taking place were focused on fighting and its deterrence. Many believe that fighting is becoming increasingly dangerous and should be limited by re-establishing the instigator penalty and a 10 minute misconduct.  While GMs agree that fighting is becoming more irrelevant, the same can’t be said about those who actually participate in the act; the enforcer. Georges Laracque, who is one of the league’s elite fighters, had his take on the proposed changes to fighting, calling the rules “stupid.” Laracque doesn’t believe that adding more penalty minutes for fighting will help the league stop them from happening, nor does he agree with the NHL’s concept of preventing “staged fights.” What Laracque does agree with is that players should keep their helmets on during a fight to prevent head trauma. Although the NHL does have some valid concerns, fighting is a part of the game and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Allow me to explain.

1. Can you tell me the last time an NHL player died as a result to a fight? Unfortunately, hockey lost OHL Whitby Dunlops forward Don Sanderson when he hit his head on the ice as a result of not having his helmet on during a fight, however, there hasn’t been a fatality like this in the NHL to date. The truth is that players in the NHL have the experience and insight to know how to fight and protect themselves. I’ve been to many Junior games and from what I see the same can’t be said about them.
2. Fighting is a part of hockey. It has always been and will continue to be. Players in the NHL pre-expansion didn’t even wear helmets and still took punishing hits and shots to the head. Although there has been one on-ice fatality due to head trauma when Bill Masterton hit his head on the ice due to an open ice hit in a game in 1968, there hasn’t been any other incidents like it.
3. It’s a great marketing tool! I hate to say it but it’s true, hockey has been a tough sell in the United States for a long time and limiting or removing it from the game could have dire consequences. Can you name me any other Major Sport that allows fighting to take place during the game? Didn’t think so.

I know some people that don’t understand why players fight and think it’s giving the game a bad rep, but at the same time they’re not even hockey fans. Ask a hockey fan what they think of fighting in the NHL, I guarantee the answer will be in support of it. I understand that there are dangers to fighting and I’m sure the Don Sanderson incident only made this matter more relevant to what the NHL is trying to do. The issue at hand is a pressing one and even more so a controversial one, however, I don’t believe they need to make major rule changes to prevent fights from happening. If a referee believes that a fight is getting too out of hand, it is their responsibility to act. I’ve been seeing players with no helmets on fighting and sliding everywhere on the ice and the linesman just watches. In this case there should be ground rules and warning signs in which the referees should follow and notice. Ask any fan or player and they will tell you that a fight in a game adds excitement and without a doubt it gets the blood flowing and leads to a more action packed game.

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