NHL on track to have fewer fights than in lockout season

Hockey fighting has been in decline in the NHL since 2008-09, with the number of fights per game decreasing each season. In 2009, we had 734 fights for 0.60 fights per game; last season, those numbers were down to 391 fights and 0.32 fights per game. 

So with most teams down to about a half-dozen games left in the 2015-16 regular season, what’s the current track for hockey fighting this season?

We checked out the numbers on HockeyFights.com, and discovered we’re in for some historic lows:

First off, the number of games with fights is assuredly going to be under 300 for the first time in an 82-game season since Hockey Fights started tracking them in 2000-01. The number of fights per game will also dip under 0.30 for the first time. The number of games with a fight could dip as low as 23.32 percent. The number of players who will have fought will also drop. 

But the most interesting current projection is number of total fights. Hockey Fights is projecting 346 fights this season, with the total currently sitting at 323 in 1,149 games.

If that holds, the NHL will have had fewer fights in this 82-game season than it would have had in the 48-game lockout-shortened season (347).

That’s a stunning bit of trivia, but not exactly a stunning number. The downward trend in NHL fighting is measurable and it’s probably irreversible. We have 734 fights in 2008-09. Now we have less than half of that total.

That’s why reading the first NHL email dump was so interesting. There was so much debate about fighting, its place in the game, its role in concussions and player safety and whether it should be banned outright, as Brendan Shanahan suggested. There wasn’t much talk about it organically leaving the game as the generations pass and personnel changes to match the current speed and skill of the product.

As late as 2011, the NHL was debating internally what to do with players that frequently fight.

To that end, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had an interesting note this week about the American Hockey League:

The American Hockey League is considering a similar fighting quota to the Ontario Hockey League’s, potentially for next season. Commissioner Dave Andrews declined to comment, but he did ask some NHL teams for feedback on the possibility. The objective is not to eliminate fighting, but to impact players the league sees as “one-dimensional.” A couple years ago, the AHL dropped the number of fighting majors necessary for ejection from a game from three, down to two. From what I understand, the new measures would target those who accumulate fighting majors during the season.

As it stands, there are 15 players in the NHL that have fought a total of 132 times this season. Should the NHL seek to enact something similar? 

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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