#NHL

Fighting may have a place as something reactionary to a dirty hit like Cooke, as you mentioned, defending teammates, etc, but goons and stage fighters are completely irrelevant. They need to be cut out of the game and the deterrent needs to be against fighting as a whole for that to happen. People can still fight, they just get kicked out of the game if they do. To me, that would make every fight count.

Fighting stays. Period. Getting rid of it would do more harm than good. This is something I am very strong about. Removing a team's right to police themselves on the ice defeats the attitude of a "team" and will allow star players to get cheap shotted. Guys who fight, when inserted in the line-up, do make a difference. It's been proven with winning record that these players DO HELP THEIR TEAM WIN even if they don't score goals every night. However, a fighter has to be able to assist the team with more than just fists, otherwise they should not be dressed for all 82 games. Don't start instituting ejections for players that fight either, bc then no one will fight at all and the above mentioned will continue to ensue. Bottom line is that the game needs to be left alone. Period.

My argument is guys like Probert don't exist anymore in a full time role. Generally speaking, if you want to fight, you have to play the game too. I don't see nearly as many players going forward, who fight, suffering from CTE or other TBA's...cheap shots and fighting are two completely different cases. And I wasn't addressing staged fights, just fighting in general. I personally enjoy watching all fights...but I can clearly understand and relate to people wanting to have that part of the game removed - just not fighting as a whole.