NHL Increase - Good Or Bad?

Hans Petter Johnsen
Aug 11, 2000

Well...There is almost just a month until the NHL kicks off with training-camps, pre-season games etc. The league will increase to 30 teams, which means less "stars" per team and I expect the games to be tougher. Though fighting averagely went down last season, I expect the teams to take better care of their respective key players this upcoming season since they will be the difference in most games. Just a handful teams have enough depth in their roster to keep a pure fighter out of their lineup. It's not a coincidence that Detroit only has Darren McCarty as a guy that knows how to throw punches in their lineup, but he's not on the team to fight. He's on the team as a grinder. Detroit doesn't have one franchise player, they have many. If Sergei Federov is hurt one night, they'll get the points from Steve Yzerman, Brendon Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom to name a few. They are amongst a small group of teams that can rely on winning by playing hockey and only focusing on that. The other 24-25 teams in the NHL have to look after their few stars carefully and that means bringing in the goons. Three new Norwegian players will likely play in the NHL this season and with the exception of Espen Knutsen, who will play on Columbus' number one line, neither Anders Myrvold (NY Islanders) or Tore Vikingstad (St. Louis) would have made the NHL on a regular basis 4 years ago. They're proving the point that NHL has grown too big too quick and it will result in more ugly incidents than we witnessed last season. The enforcers have a strongly criticized role in the NHL, but their teammates know to appreciate them. It's a psychological insurance to know you're on the good side of your enforcer when the going gets tough. But there could be too much. If most teams dress 3 or 4 fighters each, you know things will happen. Most fighters have worked their asses off to get a shot at the NHL, so don't think they won't exploit their chance when they get it. There has always been a balance in the NHL between "Beauty and the Beast", but when the NHL expands so much in such short time, you end up watching "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". I fear that when the number of players increase, the number of goons will follow and so will the incidents. This again might lead to harder sanctions from the NHL and might make fighting an illegal behavior in time. As a fighting fan, I don't want that to happen. I only hope that the players are aware of their responsibilities.

Hans Petter Johnsen (Webmaster, Gino Odjick's World)

* Editor's note: although a few edits were made, Hans Petter did a great job with his editorial in English. Keep them tuned into the NHL in Norway!

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