New Fan - General Question?

[goodtimekids]

I am a new fan to hockey. I lived in Atlanta, GA from 2000-2004. A buddy I worked with was from Canada and a big hockey fan. He had season tickets to the Thrashers games and we would go as much as possible. I remeber him explaining to me the rules of the game and the roles of the "goons/enforcers". At the time Atlanta had Francis Lessard and according to my buddy he was one of the best enforcers around. In 2004 I moved to Augusta, GA (Augusta Lynx) and quity watching the NHL until last year.

My questions are as follows:

What happend to Francis Lessar?

How do the new rules affect the fighting (or lack there of) compared to the old rules?

[PuckHogs29]

Francis Lessard belongs to the New York Rangers and is playing for their farm team in Hartford in the AHL.

Most of the new rules suck, but it looks like fighting is making a slow and steady comeback.

[goodtimekids]

Thanks for the response

Was/Is Lessard considered a legitimate enforcer?
Is Lessard at the farm team level because of the new fighting rules?

As far as the new rules go, are they penalizing more seriously for fights or just not allowing them to happen as often?

[Isles4life]

I think Lessard meets the qualifications of being an enforcer. He's not in the NHL because he's a relatively one-dimensional player, in that he's in the lineup for his physical presence. The "new" NHL has discouraged dressing a player whose sole role is to fight. It's still 5 minutes for fighting, and instigator calls are actually down from last season, which served to discourage it, but the overall climate of the league has just made it difficult to dress a pure enforcer every night.

[PuckHogs29]

Originally Posted by Isles4life

I think Lessard meets the qualifications of being an enforcer. He's not in the NHL because he's a relatively one-dimensional player, in that he's in the lineup for his physical presence. The "new" NHL has discouraged dressing a player whose sole role is to fight. It's still 5 minutes for fighting, and instigator calls are actually down from last season, which served to discourage it, but the overall climate of the league has just made it difficult to dress a pure enforcer every night.

I would say since the new rules it's made it difficult to dress more than one, since even the last two years the majority of teams still had at least one dedicated enforcer dressed most games. Even now though with more enforcers dressing regularly, and fighting up slightly, Orr is the big dog in NY and thus Lessard stays in Hartford.

[StealinUrCar06]

the only good thing about the new nhl is The shootout. most people agree that its ruined the game in a sort of way and i can see it from their stand point and it has in a way but its exciting and they did it to bring new fans to the game. because of the new rules enforcers gotta at least have some good skill and if they dont theyll fail which is how the NHL is discouraging them. just the frequency of how much the enforcers play has gone down, they are still going to fight either way. i think the main reason for doing this, again, is to bring more fans to the game. more goals i guess = more excitement for fans. they try to make it more appealing to the really young crowd so its more family oriented therefore more people will go to games. it doesnt work though

[Ciccarelli]

Originally Posted by Skorka85

Francis Lessard belongs to the New York Rangers and is playing for their farm team in Hartford in the AHL.

Most of the new rules suck, but it looks like fighting is making a slow and steady comeback.

Most of the new rules are great. The rules against any kind of obstruction are great, removing the red line was great and also making the offensive zones a little bit bigger was a good idea, as was the smaller goalie equipment.
Not so great is how they handle the battling in front of the net and in the corners, and sometimes they give to many and to harsh penalties for hits tripping and holding IMO.

Besides that Francis Lessard can't skate at all, that's the reason why he doesn't play in the NHL.