In the wake of the trade of Ilya Kovalchuk to the Devils, the NHL Network went over the trade in depth. In the platitudes and endless meaningless dribble they called "analysis," one NHL Network Anchor called Patrice Cormier a "character guy" based upon his experience as Captain of Team Canada in the World Juniors. Sorry, but the only Team Canada guy I saw that would be a "character guy" would be that Eberle kid. That kid is going to be a stud. Hall wasn't bad either, but Eberle was amazing in the USA game.
In any case, I DOUBT Cormier would have worn a letter if "the hit" would have occured before the WJC. That is NOT a character move. And, even if it did happen, his reaction to the hit was not indicative of character.
I've always maintained that, though fighting is part of the game and should remain so, policing is not something that should be left solely to the fighters. If the game is well officiated, there really is a possibility of not needing fights for the period of games rather than periods. No, perfect officiating will not eliminate fighting and there are times when a fight is warranted. I think a fight might be something worthwhile when used as a motivational tool. It could fire up the team in the right circumstance. I also see fighting as warranted in the event of a cheap hit or undue physicality towards a smaller player or goaltender. I do not believe that the star power of a player necessarily warrants a fight should the star get checked. And clean hits should never spawn fights.
I also think that, once a fight is picked, that's who's fighting. 99.9% of the time, that's the case, but I once watched a game where Alexander Ovechkin (who I call Ovechchrist after how the NHL Network fawns over him...almost as much as they fawn over Crosby) picked a fight (or a fight was picked on him) with an opposing player. They both dropped the gloves. However, before they could start throwing punches, Washington's Bradley skated in and grappled him. To Bradley's credit, it would have been very easy to sucker punch the opposing player because the opposing player was obviously not expecting to be blind sided. However, he stepped in and they fought. Instead of what normally should have happened (Bradley assessed further penalty for interfering with a pre-existing fight (again by my definition), Bradley and the opposing player got 5 minutes and that's that. That's bush league. Ovechkin dropped the gloves. He's fighting. Or... give the option of that occuring and the punishment would be the same as a 5 minute major without a misconduct... meaning both Bradley and Ovechkin would sit for 5 minutes for Washington and the opposition would have enjoyed a 5 minute powerplay.
I also am a big fan of enforcers who can do something other than fight. There are quite a few, although some harbor attitudes that make them not very likeable. A few examples would be Philadelphia's Carcillo, Dallas' Ott, Chicago's Byfuglien, and perhaps with a little more training, Minnesota's Clutterbuck. Many have been like this even in the old NHL. Players like NJ's Scott Stevens, Toronto's Wendel Clark, and even Detroit's Gordie Howe (who did have a bit of a cheap streak to him according to my father who saw him live... though admittedly he is a Blackhawk fan...).
Terry Frei of ESPN once wrote about the decreasing need for an enforcer and, though I disagree with his angle of seemingly pining for those "old time hockey" days (Like Eddie Shore!), the gist is there: You need a tough guy on the ice, but you can't compromise the mission of the team to do so anymore. The mission, of course, is to put points on the board while keeping the opposition from matching or exceeding your point total or, in other words, "just win, baby!"
