Getting Into The Player’s Head

In two recent polls, one by Hockey Night In Canada and the other Sports Illustrated, NHL players anonymously gave their overwhelming support for fighting.  Both asked if fighting should be banned and “No” was answer by the majority; 98% and 99.5% for the respective polls.  Why does an NHL player believe with such conviction that dropping the gloves is an essential element to the game?

Fighters Hurt Their Teams

In an earlier post, Additional Statistics on the Impact of Fighting, I presented some stats that show teams that fight more often are less successful in the standings and in the playoffs.  That same report also showed that teams with more fighting majors also incurred a higher number of non-fighting penalty minutes.  I thought that I would take a quick snapshot of the top penalty leaders and see if there was a correlation to their propensity to drop the gloves.

The Magical Time Before The Instigator Rule

During HNIC’s Coach’s Corner on April 21st, Don Cherry, who has not coached in over 30 years, called for the removal of the instigator rule (Rule 46.11).  He was making the point that players should be policing the game, adding, “You can’t have a mad dog sitting on the bench.”   Even though he stated, “I know you can’t go back,” it was clear that he wanted a return to the good old days.