Every season, there always is that one incident that gets the armchair anti-fighting crusaders to voice their stance loudly.
"It's a little earlier this year than others," the Wild's resident bruiser, Zenon Konopka, said.
That's because this year's first ugly incident came on the first day of the NHL season, in longtime enforcer George Parros' first game as a Montreal Canadien. In a fight with fellow Toronto tough guy Colton Orr, the two swung for the fences. Orr lost his footing, had a fist full of Parros' sweater and pulled the big man down. In a scary scene, Parros crashed to the ice mustache-first, was removed on a stretcher and hospitalized because of a concussion.
The anti-fighting media crusaders took to Twitter. The difference now was the next day, when actual influential hockey folks echoed that it's time to examine if there's a place for fighting in the NHL.
After all, the Olympics don't have it, nor college. There's less in the NHL playoffs, which offer some pretty good hockey to watch.
General Managers Ray Shero (Pittsburgh), Jim Rutherford (Carolina) and Steve Yzerman (Tampa Bay) were all quoted by TSN, with Yzerman saying, "We penalize and suspend players for making contact with the head while checking, in an effort to reduce head injuries, yet we still allow fighting."
With a general managers' meeting set for November, you know this debate will be added to the agenda, although NHL exec Colin Campbell told ESPN "there is not an appetite to change the rules with respect to fighting."
Konopka says the Parros incident was a fluky "accident" that could happen at any point in a game.
