CONWAY: IS HOCKEY GETTING LESS DIRTY? 

BY: STEVE CONWAY, Special To Howlings

NEW YORK, NY – Fighting in hockey, whether you love it or hate it, is changing. The NHL might not have changed the rules lately, but the trend is evident. There is simply less fighting than ever on the ice. Since the beginning of the sport, there have been fights in hockey, and ‘fisticuffs’ were even regulated way back in 1922. Those fights have remained a crucial hockey component ever since, but some teams are renowned for fighting a little dirtier than others. As the number of battles on the ice goes down every year, those teams with a reputation for fighting may have to take a closer look at their style of play.

Deserved Reputations

Many of the dirtiest teams in the NHL well deserve their reputations. One of those teams, the Boston Bruins, consistently comes on the top of surveys among fans questioned about dirty playing, and that reputation is well-deserved. They’ve had 371 fighting majors since the 2010/2011 season, along with the highest number of instigator penalties. They aren’t the only ones with an alarming number of fights to their name. The Anaheim Ducks have been involved in almost the same number of fighting majors simultaneously, although they are far less likely to instigate those fisticuffs. From the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers to the overly aggressive New York Islanders, dirty play and hockey go hand in hand for some teams.

Why Fighting Could Be Dropping

The question as to whether to allow fighting to remain part of hockey is not new and has been the subject of multiple debates and arguments over the years. The reasons for cutting down or eradicating those fights are simple, in that every fight:

• It slows down the game.
• Risks injury unnecessarily
• It gives hockey a bad name.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

There’s a lot of skill involved in hockey, but those skills are often overlooked by non-fans who instead focus on aggressive playing and fighting. On the flip side of that is the argument that fighting is a way for players to self-regulate and that many fans head to stadiums in the hope of seeing a good scrap. However, the stats collected by Betway NHL speak for themselves. There merely is less fighting in the NHL than ever. In the 2010/2011 season, there were 1,300 fighting majors. By the end of the 2019/2020 season, the figure had dropped to 388, a 70% reduction.

The Future of Fighting in the NHL

It seems that players themselves are less prone to starting a fight and prefer to play world-class hockey. Every statistic about fighting in hockey shows a decrease, and that pattern looks set to continue as we head into a new season. What this means as we move forward is unclear. The debate about the place of fighting in the sport continues to rage, and those teams with the worst reputations will be forced to look closely at their existing playing styles if they hope to attract the big sponsors.

Whether fighting in hockey will be banned, regulated, or embraced even further remains to be seen. Whatever decision is finally reached, the long-term impact could mean that tomorrow’s hockey looks very different indeed.