Will the NHL ban staged fights?

The subject of banning staged fights is coming up again at the GM's annual meetings in Naples Florida. I am not so sure the league wants to go there. Fighting is a big part of professional hockey and I would be willing to bet there are a good number of Wild fans that go to the games to watch Derek Boogaard take on one of the leagues tough guys, it’s an interesting side show and it’s fun to watch. Also, these so called goons or tough guys make room for the skilled players and keep the opposition players honest. If a player cheap shots a skilled player like Marian Gaborik they know the Boogey man is going to take a piece of him eventually.

What I love about the "anti-Boogaard" brigade that has surfaced as of late, is I bet you its all the people that were extremely pissed and calling for Brad May to face Derek Boogaard in the playoff series with the Ducks, when May-Day punched out Kim Johnsson. Same with when we seen Mattias Ohlund break Koivu's leg. I bet they called for Ohlund's suspension to be reduced, just so he got to face Boogaard in the matchup a few games later. Its old, really. Onto Boogaard, he is one of the few reasons to actually see a game. Do you really think people went to a Kings/Wild game a couple weeks ago, looking to see Anze Kopitar? I HIGHLY doubt it. Again, I'll bet you, a lot of the people that went (myself included), went to the game hoping to see the heavy weight fight between Derek Boogaard and Raitis Ivanans. Same thing a few weeks before that when the Preds came to town. Yay, lets all go out and see Radek Bonk! Please. A lot of people would be kidding to say they didn't want to see Boogaard/Belak IV. Its a dirty secret to hockey, but, when the team has played as up and down, and very boring as the Wild have this year, there isn't much else of a reason to see some games. (comments section of article)

They just can’t leave well enough alone, can they? Hockey is a niche sport and I could care less if we are scaring some social high brow elite from the north east away because they are offended by fighting in the NHL.

Also, I don’t know if the NHL wants to go there you could end up going down a very slippery slope here. Fighting is a deterrent to further violence. I know this sounds silly to some but have you watched a division one college hockey game lately? The DQ for fighting and the face mask have actually raised the level of violence, stick work and checking from behind penalties. A lot of the stuff goes on because the players in the NCAA division one hockey know they don’t have to fight if they cheap shot someone.

Lastly, if the National Hockey League really decided that they wanted to ban staged fights, how do you decide when a fight is staged or not staged? This would be almost as ridiculous as it sounds. Who’s is going to decide? Two refs aren’t going to be the same. Are the on ice officials going to call Toronto for a ruling?

Based on interviews with several GMs, there is at least one form of fighting most of them would like to see disappear, but no one knows how to do it without an outright ban on fights. And no general manager could be found who supports the complete elimination of fighting.

What most of them would like to see is an end to the staged fight, where two players whose only role on the team is to fight, drop their gloves and go at it.

"The sense I get is there will be a lot of discussion on staged fights," said Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. "I'm against that. But no, I don't see an outright ban on fighting." (Read the whole story here)