Minnesota91裸聊视频檚 Marcus Foligno took a hit, delivered one of his own to Chicago91裸聊视频檚 Jarred Tinordi, and the two big guys

Outdoors in the Meadowlands, it took even less for to spice up the Rangers-Islanders showdown with a fight.

But when Morgan Rielly for firing a slap shot into an empty net? Some pushing and shoving. Nothing more.

91裸聊视频淗ow there wasn91裸聊视频檛 a brawl there, I don91裸聊视频檛 know how everyone didn91裸聊视频檛 start fighting,91裸聊视频� wondered Todd Simpson, a 50-year-old retired player who piled up more than 1,300 penalty minutes in 580 NHL games. 91裸聊视频淭hat should91裸聊视频檝e been a big fight.91裸聊视频�

All of these situations happened over the past month, riveting reminders that fighting is alive and well in the NHL even if it is diminished in many ways.

It has been 20 years since Simpson and his Ottawa teammates got into a fight fest at Philadelphia, a game that still holds the NHL record with Of 40 players who suited up, 23 got at least two minutes of penalty time.

Those kinds of massive clashes are long gone, faded like the in 91裸聊视频淪lap Shot.91裸聊视频� Like the beloved movie, however, fighting is warmly remembered, even desired, by many fans of the game and cheering on the brawls remains common. Those fans need not worry: Even in the NHL, which has fewer and fewer spots for goons these days, fighting is rare but certainly not gone, with a fight coming roughly every four or five games across the league.

Many in a sport that values standing up for teammates, even as they have watched some of the biggest fighters left shells of themselves by repeated blows to the head.

91裸聊视频淚t doesn91裸聊视频檛 happen often, but you still have to have it,91裸聊视频� said Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, whose 237 career fights rank 21st all-time. 91裸聊视频淲hen I played, you could really use as intimidation. You can still use it a little bit today but not as much. The staged fighting and all that stuff, that doesn91裸聊视频檛 work anymore. But there is a time and place for it.91裸聊视频�

FIGHTING ON THE WANE

The NHL does not publicly list penalties by type, including fighting and other major infractions. According to HockeyFights.com, there have been 219 fights this season through Monday with 63 more projected before the playoffs begin for a total of 282, which would be a sharp drop from the 789 in 2003-04. That is a 200% decrease over 20 years and significantly down from 645 as recently as 2010-11.

Rule changes are part of the reason. The institution of the salary cap in 2005 made it more difficult for a team to pay a player whose skills were limited to throwing punches and protecting stars. In 2013, it became illegal to take a helmet off to fight and mandatory visors were grandfathered in.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 obviously evolved a lot where guys like myself back in the day no longer exist 91裸聊视频� one-dimensional fighters no longer exist,91裸聊视频� said Riley Cote, who fought 50 times in 156 games with Philadelphia from 2007-10 and countless other times in the minor leagues. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 been a natural progression. 91裸聊视频� I91裸聊视频檓 not sure at the NHL level they91裸聊视频檒l ever fully phase it out, but they91裸聊视频檙e doing a pretty good job of trying.91裸聊视频�

No one expects a fighting ban, like the ejection and suspension policies that exist in college and internationally. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the fighting helps keep tensions from boiling over.

91裸聊视频淔ighting, in the spontaneous sense, tends to act as a bit of a thermostat when things happen in the course of the game,91裸聊视频� in 2013. Discussing a fight between Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier, Bettman said, 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檇 rather them be punching each other than swinging sticks at each other.91裸聊视频�

WILL FIGHTING SURVIVE?

A by the NHL Players91裸聊视频� Association and CBC found that 98% of players at that time didn91裸聊视频檛 support the total elimination of fighting. A vast majority of those players are now out of the league, replaced by a generation that has made hockey faster and more skilled than ever 91裸聊视频� but still willing to drop the gloves on occasion and wanting that option.

91裸聊视频淚t always needs to be in the game,91裸聊视频� said St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who has fought twice this season but never more than four times a year as a professional. 91裸聊视频淵ou need guys to police it themselves, and if you91裸聊视频檙e going to run around and make a big hit, you91裸聊视频檝e got to know that sometimes you91裸聊视频檙e going to have to deal with the consequences.91裸聊视频�

That is certainly the opinion of Steve Oleksy, who HockeyFights.com credits with 107 bouts at various levels, including the NHL. He is 38 and retired and, after at least a couple of concussions and other wear and tear, is sometimes irritated in noisy places. Long drives and playing recreational sports is hard on his hands, which delivered hundreds of punches over the years.

He believes fighting will be virtually extinct a decade from now.

91裸聊视频淚 think it declines exponentially, but I also think the definition of a fight has changed so much,91裸聊视频� Oleksy said. 91裸聊视频淭he number of actual punches, actual fights 91裸聊视频� what we would deem a fight back in the day 91裸聊视频� I just don91裸聊视频檛 think that91裸聊视频檚 there, either. And I think with that comes the rise in incidents like the cross-checking incident, slashing, two-handers, things like that.91裸聊视频�

Oleksy and many others point to junior hockey and even younger levels of hockey banning or at least discouraging and not teaching fighting as a bellwether for where things are going: Fewer players knowing how to, or being willing to, fight.

FIGHTING91裸聊视频橲 LEGACY

Like many sports, hockey is facing the fallout from decades of its players when safety wasn91裸聊视频檛 the top priority it is now.

Patrick Sharp, who fought a handful of times as a player and is now in the Flyers91裸聊视频� front office, said he cringes when he sees a player91裸聊视频檚 helmet come off taking a heavy punch or banging their head on the ice. It91裸聊视频檚 what happened to George Parros during a fight in 2013 that left him unconscious after falling face first.

The deaths of old-school enforcers like and Bob Probert, who were posthumously found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, has changed some minds when it comes to glorifying fighting the way it used to be. Oleksy contends that heavyweights of that vintage are no longer in the game and the risk of serious injury is much less now.

Dan Gallant, who has run HockeyFights.com since 2016, understands the business aspects of the decline of fighting and believes it to be cyclical. Now, general managers are looking for the next Milan Lucic or Tom Wilson 91裸聊视频� the big guy who can play hockey first but also can drop the gloves.

91裸聊视频淭he types of players that teams are going out and looking for to create that championship team have just kind of evolved,91裸聊视频� Gallant said, confident fighting will never totally disappear. 91裸聊视频淲ho knows what tomorrow might bring, but I do believe that the players that played the game before, being in the game now and the players that are currently here will make sure that fighting does stay in some form or fashion.91裸聊视频�

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