Evolution and Other Matters

A Maple Leaf tradition is just about dead.

Notice I didn't say a proud tradition. Just a tradition.

For more than three decades, a big part of the Leaf story has been the club's attraction to the high profile enforcer/goon. From Kurt Walker to Tiger Williams to John Kordic to Ken Baumgartner to Tie Domi, with the odd Paul Higgins tossed in now and then, the Leafs have loved to have their scrappers.

This season, for the first time in a very, very long time, the Leafs under head coach Paul Maurice have decided to go without a designated fighter. Some might suggest Wade Belak is that player, but he's not and isn't going to be.

The result of this lineup decision is logical. In nine games this season going into Tuesday night's contest with Ottawa, the Leafs have been involved in one fight.

One fight in nine games. Somewhere, John Brophy is weeping.

One fight in nine games. That's even way below the league average of one fight every three or four games.

Does this mean the Leafs are getting pushed around? Don't think so. Fact is, they've been more competitive so far than many would have thought.

Strange, because those who ardently believe in the value of an enforcer would tell you such players are vital to the success of any team because they protect the team's skilled players (keep the sticks down, the saying goes) and allow them to go about their business without being unduly harassed.

Well, Kyle Wellwood doesn't appear to be fighting for his life out there. Same goes for Mats Sundin and Matt Stajan and Tomas Kaberle.

You could argue whether this is a direction chosen by the Leafs or the league. Last season, the club had 29 fights, just slightly more than the 26 in which Domi was involved by himself in the 1997-98 season.

According to hockeyfights.com, which tracks such things, three NHL clubs - Atlanta, the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals - have yet to have one of their players in involved in a fight this season.

Five teams other than the Leafs have had one fight. This is sobering stuff for those who make money off hockey fight videos. More to the point, it's clear the battle over the future of fighting in hockey is over and the pro-fighting lobby is just going to have to accept it eventually. It's not even a worthwhile debate any more, sort of like the removal of the red line or the shootout.

(Note to blog readers: Before the quick-witted send their usual emails, I know, I know, I should really go cover figure skating or ballet and must own my own copy of Brokeback Mountain. Try to come up with something a little more interesting this time around).

***

Just as you were about to say Monday Night Football was back on the map it had to go and do this.

MNF invited the NFL's all-time rusher, Emmitt Smith, to be on the program this week during the Cowboys-Giants game then proceeded to ask him multiple questions about his involvment in ABC's Dancing with Stars program.

More questions than they asked him about football.

ABC and ESPN, which now broadcasts MNF, are,of course, corporate brethren. It was obvious and sickening cross-promotion. The saddest part was that the man in the booth who seemed most enthusiastic on the dancing with Emmitt issue was Tony Kornheiser, who also purports to be a journalist with the Washington Post.

***

Where will Ken Hitchcock land?

He's one of the NHL's best, so he'll be working again, sooner as opposed to later.

Columbus is off to a weak start and Hitchcock would be a fit for Gerard Gallant if he can't get that team turned around.

What about awful Phoenix? Yes, Wayne Gretzky is in the first year of a new five-year deal, but it's not hard to envision a shakeup in which No. 99 moves upstairs if the Desert Dogs continue to plummet. As a part-owner, he can't be fired, really, but he could in theory step aside.

If that were to happen, Gretzky could choose between Hitchcock and Pat Quinn, the two men he chose to run Team Canada in the 2002 Olympics and 2004 World Cup.

Comments

[Ido]

Well, I've never thought much of the "sending a message" fight or how "my goon beating your goon" makes a team tougher. Still, as barbaric as it sounds, a cheap shot artist still needs a shot in the nose to set boundries - or imagine a nasty league filled with Linesmans.

[jkr]

Fighting in hockey does not offend me but it does not entertain me & I won't miss it if it disappears from hockey. When a fight starts I usually change the channel or check the fridge. I found Don Cherry's comments on Coaches Corner a little sad. It was if he was trying to drum up support for fighting. Sorry, showing clips of teammates banging their sticks on the boards in support of a fighter don't prove to me that their is widespread support for it in the game.

I agree with your comments about MNF. The breaking point for me came several weeks ago when they brought some guy from Desparate Housewives into the booth. I rarely watch MNF now, but when I do tune in, the mute button is on. Kornheiser, Theismann & their celebrity guests are just too annoying.

[John Richardson]

After watching a breathtakingly fast game between the Sabres & Habs last night, my only question is, "Who misses the fighting?"

Interestingly enough, this "let's not waste a roster spot on a goon" is apparently filtering down to the junior level.

I've heard there are some coaches in the OHL who don't want a one-dimensional player on their team any longer since the writing is on the wall for fighting in general.

Yes, I own copies of both the short story and DVD of "Brokeback Mountain"

[dave]

South of the border and on the other side of the ocean prefer hockey without fights. I'm one of those guys. Hockey is great, without fights is even better.

[Jim Boyd]

I have watched hockey since the sixties, the rough and tumble 70’s and probably the best era – the 80’s.

Hockey was a bore in the 90’s and I know something had to be done to speed up the game. Yes the games are quicker now, or it seems to be, and the so called “skilled” players are allowed to skate (really tired of hearing that).

However, as a longtime fan, I just find something missing from the league and the games.
I find the games indistinguishable from each other. I find the players indistinguishable from each other. There are no games or more specifically, no teams you really look forward to seeing. There are no “character” teams, no “character” players. They ride into town, skate like crazy for a couple of hours and ride back out of town. Win, lose or, bleep’n shoot-out.

Lose 2-1, lose 9-1, no emotion, no we’ll get you next time, no in your face hockey.
Rivalries are a thing of the past – yes even your beloved Leafs – Sens games are getting dull. When you play someone 8 times what more can anyone say. You win some you lose some.

For those who don’t agree, just think back – Saturday night 1970’s, Bruins playing a return match in Montreal after Nilan cheapshotted someone the game before, 80’s – Calagary going into Edmonton after Peplinski or Otto cheapshotted someone the previous game, even the 90’s, Colorado going into Detroit after Lemieux cheapshotted everyone. And it wasn’t about fighting, it was about that element that you looked forward to, you knew it was going to be a good tough game, with or without fighting.

I know, just me, an old time hockey fan, but this stuff we watch now can give you diabetes, it’s so sugar–coated. Oh well, go Joe Thornton, I need some goals in my hockey pool. And no, penalty minutes don’t count in our pool anymore…………..

[spinman]

I don't really miss the fisticuffs during Leaf games. What I have noticed and Paul Maurice has commented on, is the need for more team "meanness". The Leafs look like a team in competition with each other for the Lady Byng. It's like watching 20 Dave Keons. I would like to see more nastiness around the net and the odd bodycheck thrown in anger.
Gretzky should unhire himself and sign Hitchcock. Hitchcock's tune has a limited shelf life but the Coyotes need it now. With all due respect, Pat Quinn is where he belongs.
ps NOTE TO PAUL MAURICE: Get Jeff O'Neil to take half an inch off the curve of his stick! He puts more over the cross-bar than Noel Prefontaine!

[Christopher Hunt]

I, for one, welcome the end of this "tradition". The role of Enforcer has hijacked the place and purpose of fighting in hockey, transforming it from meaningful in-game event to pointless endeavor in which one designated player hits another designated player until they both fall down.

This is not to say, however, that I believe fighting has no place it hockey. There should remain a forum in hockey for a player to stick up for himself or a teammate on the ice, if necessary. There should remain a forum in hockey for players to be physically brought to task for their actions on the ice, if necessary.

What there should never have been a place for in hockey is goonery, and with the decline of this behaviour in the NHL it probably follows that there will be a decline in fighting. If so, so be it, fighting isn't necessary because one can fight, fighting is necessary because one, sometimes, should fight. There will continue to be on-ice harassment, unfair hits and dirty plays, it's simply the way of NHL competition - Canadians do it, Americans do it, Europeans do it. Although this behaviour has and will continue to decrease, it will never disappear entirely. Because of this fighting needs to remain a necessary, albeit last resort, part of the game.

In short, the game should always have a place for players like Wendel Clark and Gordie Howe, who could score goals and drop the gloves for their teams. Never should a place have been made for Enforcers.

[Dafydd]

Since hockey emerged from the 6-team era into the draft era, the best player the Leafs have drafted - lifetime stats wise - is Vincent Damphousse, who sits about 40th in all-time career scoring. Besides Sittler, not much else. Defense-wise, other than Salming and Randy Carlyle, what has there been? Yet they've managed to draft two of the top three penalty-box dwellers in NHL history, David (Tiger) Williams and one Tie Domi. Character is one thing, but what are the odds against us EVER drafting a bona-fide star.

[Newton]

If Wade Belak isn't on the team to fight why is he there?

Most teams still carry a guy capable of dropping them with the big boys however they require that this individual contribute something to the club besides the singular ability to fight. That said, I'm still not sure what Belak adds besides the ability to play ECHL level forward and defence.

Fighting has never been prominent in the NHL playoff tournament so it should come as no suprise that when GM's were required to efficiently prioritize the personnel attributes they procure with their 40 odd mill the singular goon wouldn't be at the top of the list.

[Billie Bob]

The NHL is nothing more than figure skating with a puck. The game is boring, and watered down. How many times have I seen a Leaf get hit from behind, into the boards and given the stick without any response. The last game I saw, there was Leafs rising star Kyle Wellwood getting drilled from behind into the boards, without any response from the Leafs. You don't let guys run your stars, if they do they must get filled in.

If the Leafs would have acquired Big George from the Oilers in the off season, we wouldn't have to worry about our guys getting run.

I'm an old time hockey guy, I've seen them all, and the bunch I see now are just plain boring. I don't watch figure skating, and Broke Back Mountain is a very gross movie to watch (so I'm told).

Tonight I won't even watch the Leafs Sens hookup, who would have thought that a few years ago. Could you imagine an Ontario hockey fan not tuning in to watch the Leafs take on the Sens? The NHL is a North American version of the Swedish Elite League. No emotion, No Spirit, No Spunk, and apparently no audience.

[Ron]

When I heard that the CBC may be losing NHL broadcasting rights after next season, part of me was quite upset, given what Hockey Night in Canada means to me and so many people. But then I watched the game on Saturday (Leafs & Rangers), and subjected myself to the stuck-in-the-seventies, neanderthal-esque comments of the two most virulent pro-fighting cheerleaders on television during the first intermission.

After watching these two trying to drag hockey back to the stone age yet again, I quickly concluded that seeing the demise of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC might not be such a bad thing.

In his classic book, The Game, Ken Dryden put forth a very scholarly, erudite argument against fighting, and his arguments still make sense today, some 20-plus years after that book was published.

Do skill players need protection from other players? No, as the Buffalo Sabres are aptly demonstrating this season. Do players need fighting as an outlet for their anger and aggression? No, because as we all know, it's the same players fighting the same players all the time anyway. Do the fans and players applaud when a fight occurs....of course they do, just as we stop and stare at a car crash...but it doesn't make it right, and doesn't justify its existence.

[Garret Thomson]

Re, Billie Bob: "The NHL is nothing more than figure skating with a puck."

No, its now hockey without amateur level boxing on skates. Maybe you should wonder why *that* activity doesn't have a sporting league.

Is it a co-incidence that the cheap shot artists often are the same ones the most willing to fight? If you get to the level of the NHL, you probably dish out for your team what you're willing to take. Fighting, for too long, has been a mea culpa for players who look for the momentum-changing hit rather than the hit that is the best defensive play at any given moment. I'm glad that most teams have decided that its time they should just go off and form their own league of poor hockey, cheap hits, and admittedly fun to watch fighting. Notice that I don't think NHL fights arn't fun to watch; the problem is, it isn't good hockey, and it tends to promote a give-take system for cheap hits. Its an arms race that nobody wants to watch unless its the main attraction. Somebody delivers a cheap hit, ends up on the wrong end of a fight, and the league can more easily wash its hands of the matter by 'virtue' of the 'honor system'.

I totally agree with Ron; is the same guys operating a side plot that is perceived as being more important to the sport than it really is.

[Andrew]

Damien, regarding the fighting issue, I'm curious on your thoughts on the approach of a team like Ottawa, who has a goon that is a healthy scratch every other night. This seems like a smart middle road to take for now, until the issue of whether or not to have goon is settled for good. Currently for Ottawa, it's either McGratton or Kaigorodov on the fourth line, depending on who they're playing. If it's Buffalo or Montreal, you can bet McGratton will sit out.

I agree that Belak is not the solution for Toronto. It might be wiser to get a true goon that can be scratched, or not bother at all. It seems especially unwise to have an enforcer on defense where weaker play is far more costly.

I'm also curious what you though about the Tucker/Eaves "fight". I have a lot of respect for Tucker, but to go after a guy who obviously didn't want to fight seems a bit cowardly, and not the type of thing that is going to get his team fired up. In my opinion, McCabe volunteering to get his clock cleaned by Chara a couple years ago showed a lot more guts.

[chris]

Sadly, we still get idiots who think that fighting is an important element to the game, as witnessed by Don Cherry as well as sportsnetnews' "Fight of the Night" clips. Until the game officially outlaws this unnecessary act, Canadian hockey will always be defined, in and out of this country, by "dropping the gloves and gettin' it on!"