Carkner’s Response To Brian Boyle

My last post, A Superficial Look At UFAFs, was retweeted a couple of times and prompted a response citing an incident from this year’s playoffs.   Matt Carkner went after Brian Boyle in retaliation and the tweeter, based on my understanding, was using it as an example of why fighting is a necessary part of the game.  So let’s dive into this example and analyze it from my point of view.

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.

Additional Statistics on the Impact of Fighting

Back in January I posted an article – More Facts and Less Emotion – that presented available facts on how fighting and fighters impacted the game of hockey.   I think that it is important to take emotion out of the argument and stop using perception as a valid reason to resist change.  With that in mind I have done some additional analysis that hopefully convinces NHL execs, coaches and fans to step back and focus on what is happening  versus what could happen.