For the person who that's concerned about their cognitive well being, they're probably going to stay away from the game altogether," he said. If you took the total universe of concussions, less than 10 percent of them are caused by a fighting altercation. Could it be that new generations of players are avoiding fights? So, from one season to the next, it's evolved," said Grimson.Ĭould health also be a factor? After all, NHL players know more about concussions and CTE now than they did back when Grimson was playing. But now that teams are more closely matched, we just don't have as much as that as we used to. "One of the primary justifications for a fight is to pick up your team when it gets down or starts flat. There's so much scoring, and the teams are so closely matched, that players are more engaged, knowing that they're usually not out of games. There isn't just parity in the standings, but parity in games. In 1997-98, there were 56 players with at least 10 fights.īut there's also something about scoring rates this season - at 2.95 goals per game, offense is at its highest peak since 2006-07 (also 2.95) - that Grimson correlates with the fighting decline. Hence, the twilight of the "enforcer." There's only one player in double-digits in fights this season: Micheal Haley of the Florida Panthers, with 11. You need guys that bring three, four tools," said Grimson. At the end of the day, there's a little less room for a player that's predominately a physical player. "We saw some pretty stark changes, and it's taken a while for those changes to completely permeate. The downward trend for fighting didn't happen immediately, but by 2009 it was apparent that the culture had shifted. The easiest answer is that it's been headed for that cliff since 2005, when the NHL changed its rules during its locked-out season to create a faster, more offensive game. "We don't see people running around for message-sending, or getting into a fight at the end of the game for giggles," Grimson told ESPN this week. Fights are no longer the norm in NHL games, but rarities that are quickly shared by fans through social media for their sheer oddity. That's because a fourth-line enforcer like Grimson is all but extinct. "We're moving into a place where there are games that feel like they call for a fight, but there's nothing there," said David Singer, who runs. This comes after a brief uptick in fighting last season - 306 games with a fight, compared to 288 in 2015-16. The number of fights per game (0.22) and the number of games with a fight (220) are also projected to hit new lows. According to, the industry leader in tracking puck pugilism, the number of games with a fight in the NHL is projected to dip to less than 20 percent for the first time since it began tracking the stats in 2000. His role was seen as a necessity because fighting in the NHL was prevalent: More than 38 percent of all NHL games had a fight (469 games) and there were 0.56 fights per game - the kind of thing that used to inspire "I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out" jokes.Īlmost two decades later, hockey fighting hasn't just declined - it's cratered. That he only played six minutes per game and contributed just five points in 72 of them was immaterial, because one did not sign The Grim Reaper for his offensive acumen. He played 729 games and amassed 2,113 penalty minutes, most of them earned after pounding the face of an opponent.Ī typical season for him: In 2000-01, Grimson had 235 penalty minutes with 19 fights. Seen something worth highlighting here? Hit me at was known as "The Grim Reaper."įor 12 season, Stu Grimson lived up to the moniker as one of the most feared fighters in the NHL. Read on for the Jersey Foul of the Week, dancing Russians, All-Star snubs and much more. The NHL Weekly Reader publishes every Friday. Why is fighting in the NHL down to historic lows? You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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