The Current State of Fighting in the NHL

It's been a while since I've taken time to blog about hockey fights.

While I want to say it's because of a decline in the fights this year, that apparently isn't completely accurate.  According to hockeyfights.com, we're currently on the same pace as we were last year.  And, really, the numbers haven't drastically increased or decreased in some time.

Season	Games	Fights*	Fights Per Game	Games With Fights	% of Games With Fights	Games With More Than One Fight	# of players who fought**
2013-14+	1230	535	0.43	407	33.12%	96	-
2013-14	782	340	0.43	259	33.12%	61	247
2012-13	720	347	0.48	264	36.67%	66	245
2011-12	1230	546	0.44	423	34.39%	98	321
2010-11	1230	645	0.52	458	37.24%	117	348
2009-10	1230	714	0.58	493	40.08%	171	341
2008-09	1230	734	0.60	509	41.38%	173	355
2007-08	1230	664	0.54	473	38.46%	143	324
2006-07	1230	497	0.40	384	31.22%	87	292
2005-06	1230	466	0.38	357	29.02%	80	276
2003-04	1230	789	0.64	506	41.14%	172	340
2002-03	1230	668	0.54	464	37.72%	139	321
2001-02	1230	803	0.65	519	42.20%	172	348
2000-01	1230	684	0.56	469	38.13%	155	329

What's unfortunate, however, is that the percentage of games with fights has steadily declined.  This year, when you tune into a game, you have a 1 in 3 shot at seeing a fight.

The number of players fighting continues to decrease as well.  And while the anti-fighting crowd would tell you fighting has nothing to do with toughness, I think most of us would agree there is a strong correlation.  Tough players tend to drop the gloves every once in a while.  So I think it's safe to say lineups are getting softer and softer.

Ultimately, this leads to boring, lackluster games.  Fights occur (most times) when emotions boil over.  But with softer lineups, the game are bound to lack the enthusiasm necessary to turn into a fight.

This might please some.  But scoring, passing, and skating just don't cut it for many meat eating North Americans.