NHL thinking about banning fighting...

Banning fighting makes less room on teams for plugs who can take a punch and more room for skilled players. That makes hockey more skilled, faster and higher scoring everything it should be. Get it done NHL…

To respond to your title, no they are not. I think Shanahan made it clear they do not want to ban fighting and physical contact

Friggin people…. leave the damn game alone. Tradition is important.

In Rugby its five in the sin bin.

I've seen it as low as a yellow card in Soccer.

Bench clearing fights in Baseball occur every year.

If you don't like fights, don't watch the game. It's a heavy contact sport, fights are bound to happen. Pussies… all of ya.

Baseball has scurmishes, not fights. Same with American football.

Fighting in soccer is an automatic ejection and at least a few games suspension. Here in Vancouver metro you can easily get suspended for a year or even permanently from the league.

Lacrosse play is more brutal than a fight, so lacrosse doesn't count.

I doubt the NHL will ever ban fighting; it brings in too many viewers.

Hockey is one of the most physically punishing, if not THE most punishing major sport in the world. The kinetic energy of even the smallest NHL players running one another into the relatively solid boards is immense. The kinetic energy of an open ice hit with big players makes the NFL look like a bunch of pussies.

With 10 players skating at speeds pushing 50kmh with sticks, there's no way that 3-4 officials can keep an eye on everything, and there's room for players to take 'liberties'. Fighting is, and always has been, a way for the players to self police. In the heat of the moment, a couple minutes in the box or perhaps a fine or minor suspension may not be much of a deterrent when you've got the other team's star player in your sites. Knowing that you're likely to get pounded by his teammate immediately after will cause you pause.

My Dad had a friend who played NHL hockey in the 80s and I remember one night at dinner he asked him why nobody ever took a run at Gretzky to 'send a message' when they were just getting embarrassed by the guy. His response was simply "27". Everyone knew that if anyone took liberties with 99 they had to answer to 27, and nobody wanted that.

Head hits have increased significantly once the instigator rule was put in. It got even worse with the revisions to the fighting major rules a few years back. You take out the accountability, you increase the liberties players take.

I'm not a proponent of staged fighting, or the lame auto-scrums that have plagued the modern game, but the core reasons for allowing fighting are strong and the game would be less entertaining to the fans and more dangerous to the players.

Good riddance. There is barely any finesse left in North American hockey.

[HTML_REMOVED]sarc[HTML_REMOVED]Totally, that explains why Canada and the US do so poorly in international competition.[HTML_REMOVED]sarc/[HTML_REMOVED]

fighting is part of the game and has been since the beginning. I think they do need to refine the rules around fighting to bring it back to it's intended purpose (as I understand it) as a deterrant to cheap shots and running the key players.

^This

If they got rid of fighting (massive fines and game ejections/suspensions) they would seriously
have to alter the reffing and change many of the rules. There's too many cheap shots that
go "unnoticed" and the only recourse is to either cheap shot back or fight. I agree that
fighting for fighting's sake is dumb, but when a bad hit occurs there needs to be a punishment
and the refs can't do that without looking one sided or biased. Let the players duke it
out and be done with it.

Fighting is a part of hockey. Period. If you don't like it watch the Golden Girls or something.

I mean, why don't we just outlaw downhill biking, car racing or any other sport where people can get hurt? I can't think of any career ending injuries from a hockey fight but I can think of dozens from dirty hits.

Someone kick Gary Bettman in the cunt while we're at it.

Fighting is a part of hockey. Period. If you don't like it watch the Golden Girls or something.

I mean, why don't we just outlaw downhill biking, car racing or any other sport where people can get hurt? I can't think of any career ending injuries from a hockey fight but I can think of dozens from dirty hits.

Someone kick Gary Bettman in the cunt while we're at it.

Lindros' career was done even before he hit the nhl because of the concussions he sustained in junior.

Every one of us knew he had a glass jaw and a soft head.

Lindros' career was done even before he hit the nhl because of the concussions he sustained in junior.

Every one of us knew he had a glass jaw and a soft head.

He was over-coddled by his asshole parents too.

More to the point … should NHL on-ice fighting ban hockey?

More to the point … should NHL on-ice fighting ban Gary Bettman?

Yes.

i dont think its as simple as just banning fighting.

things have to take place first before you can do that. fighting occurs because players feel they need to police themselves (for whatever reason).
you remove the reason for players to police themselves; have refs making consistent calls, have proper suspensions handed out for dirty hits (finally starting to occur under shanahan) and you remove the need for fighting.

There's nothing "pussy" about wanting fighting out of hockey. It does nothing for the game except allow meatheads a spot on the bench, forcing someone with skill to sit.

People talk about "manly" sports. I dont hear anyone calling football (NFL) a pussy sport. They dont allow fighting, you fight at all and you're gone for 5 games. They protect their QB and star players with proper enforcement. Rough the passer 15 yards, contact with the WR's half the distance to the goal. You start disadvantaging your team you'll find you wont be on the field (or ice).

Hockey just needs proper enforcement and penalties that make people think about their actions. Start hitting them on the ice with penalties, and off the ice with suspension and large fines (or draft picks etc.) and you'll start seeing changes in the way the game is played.

You can have physical hockey without fighting and I believe the game would be better. We've seen it at the olympics, the world juniors, and almost every other level of hockey outside of north america.