Colin Cambell says League should look at Fighting

The Fighting Debate in Hockey

Tood Fedoruk Shouldn't fight

It didn't take long for this issue to come up. If you page down you can see incident in question: Not so tough guy Todd Fedoruk starts a fight with really tough guy Colton Orr. In picking the fight with the wrong tough guy; Todd Fedoruk and gets pummeled and now some in the league think it is time to look at fighting. By the way that is the second beating that Todd Fedoruk too this season. The first one put him in the hospital with a face reconstruction. Funny thing is that it took a total of three punches to know this guy out twice. I am thinking maybe Todd should consider a new career choice. I mean honestly, your going to get killed.

On the heels of the frightening Fedoruk incident, Colin Campbell, the NHL's Senior Vice President, told Canadian Press that it's time to look at whether fighting has a place in the NHL.

"I think you have to ask the question because of what's happening out there," Campbell told CP. "It's incumbent on me, because of my position, to ask the question. ... I think if you discussed this even three or four years ago you would have got pooh-poohed out of the game.

"But now I think because of the size of our players, where we're at in sports and in life, I think we have to look at it."

Boogaard, Minnesota's 6-7, 250-pound fighter, says the fans' reaction -- the crowd was cheering and standing -- when he fought St. Louis' D.J. King on Thursday "shows it's meant to be in the game."If you take fighting out of hockey, it might be exciting for 10, 30 games, and then the rinks will start emptying," Boogaard said.

But Campbell counters, "We've had two players carried out on stretchers because of fair, consenting fights. ... It scares you. ... I think we have to ask the question, is the risk worth it?"

St. Louis Blues President John Davidson, in the Twin Cities for Thursday's game against the Wild, wonders, too, saying, "It needs to be looked at. Seeing fighters fight fighters for the sake of a fight is kind of silly. ... These guys are huge now. Look at Boogaard. I mean, I'm worried. I don't want to see somebody get hurt or worse. It's scary. It's nice to be ahead of the curve instead of behind it."

Gary Bettman Disagrees with Collin Cambell

I have to give Gary Bettmen props here for remaining calm when others have wanted to run off the deep end. I am also glad to know that the league hasn't discussed removing fighting from the game.

Commissioner Gary Bettman says fighting is part of hockey and believes some people have been "running off a little too fast on this topic."

"My view on fighting hasn't changed," he told the Canadian Press. "We've never taken active steps or considered eliminating fighting from the game. I've always taken the view that it's a part of the game and it rises and lowers based on what the game dictates." While Bettman seemed OK with the game's current stand on fighting, he's concerned about the larger safety issues.

David Lebrun suggests an Alternative

AN ALTERNATIVE TO BANNING FIGHTING IN THE NHL

The recent injuries and general consensus that we will someday watch a player die on the ice as a result of a fight are not to be taken lightly.

But I believe it is the recent influx of super-heavyweights and their willingness and desire to compete for an imaginary NHL heavyweight title that is causing the problems. These players have taken the role of fighting in hockey right out of the game.


My suggestion for the NHL is to impose a new rule that would limit a player's fight total throughout the course of a single season. If coupled with a serious suspension for exceeding the fight limit AND the abolition of the instigator rule, this new rule would pressure the enforcers to fight only when it is necessary��" To protect star players and punish players who have crossed the line by attempting to injure or taking cheap shots etc... Under the new rule, the instigator rule would be rendered useless (as if it already isn't), and players would not be punished for policing the game (and essentially cleaning up the game). And players would not be fighting incessantly either.


I believe this new rule would have several impacts on the NHL. It would decrease the amount of fighting and injuries caused by fighting. And it would ELEVATE the excitement of fighting, since most fights would be spirited, justified and fans would see scores settled within games--players being held accountable for their hits. I also believe the new rule would eventually curve the number of super-goons, since teams would opt to be policed by players who can contribute to the score with their ice-time, since fighting would not be as prevalent.

The alarmist opinion that we should abolish fighting is frightening. The NHL needs to recognize both the value of fighting, and the reason why so many super-fighters have infiltrated and tarnished the hockey-fight's reputation.

Fighting has a Purpose in Hockey

The debate about fighting having a place in the NHL and professional hockey is never ending debate. This debate seems to have nine lives and will never die as long as fighting is allowed in the NHL. I think most of the debate about fighting is a result of people not knowing a lot about the game of hockey. It never fails; you see an act like the above mention incident, then there is a firestorm of negative press that follows. Then there are people that want to immediately ban fighting from the NHL. First off if you don’t understand why fighting is part of hockey then you maybe you shouldn’t be a fan of fighting.

Fighting is a necessary tool and is a big part of the game of hockey. There is a code in hockey if you commit an egregious act in a hockey game you will be held accountable for your actions. Hockey players police themselves. It’s called the code. That means if you take a run at a skilled player that is looked at as being questionable you will be met on the ice challenged for this egregious act. In other words it’s designed to keep the players honest.

Now the problem is the instigator penalty, if you start a fight and it’s deemed you started that fight you can be kicked out of the game. Get too many instigator penalties and you can be suspended by the league. It’s been argued that the instigator rule in hockey has caused more problems than it’s prevented. Now the league decided to enact another rule that might actually be facilitating the injuring of the leagues skilled players. Now with 5 minutes or less in the third period if you get into a fight and get tagged with the instigator penalty you can actually get suspended for the next game and cause your coach to get fined $10,000. So now there won’t be any fight but players will think they have the green light to go after the skilled players in the NHL. I witnessed this in Boston one night while the Wild were playing the Bruins.