Jim Vandermeer fights Milan Lucic. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan

Old vs New

The past few days have seen a bit of a theme - the old against the new.

Monday's only fight featured John Scott getting the instigator package and scoring a decisive win over Brad Staubitz after Staubitz missed a big on Brian Campbell during the second period of Wild-Hawks.

It was a battle between Scott, one of Minnesota's old heavyweights against Staubitz, the Wild's new tough guy.

In addition, the weekend saw some fun fights including a toe-to-toe tilt between Milan Lucic and Jim Vandermeer and a surprising scrap (in terms of the result) pitting Cam Janssen against Jason Strudwick.

Continue reading: Old vs New

Dustin Penner fights Jack Johnson, his new teammate on the Kings. April 7, 2009. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong

Deadline Day 2011 Recap

The swapping is over and the NHL's trade deadline has passed. If you missed today's action, we have a handy table for you to look at below.

Monday's biggest moves saw Jason Arnott head down to Washington and Dustin Penner go to Hollywood. The Sens also continued to revamp their roster and the Canucks loaded up for a playoff run.

A few tough guys were involved in some trades, too. Tom Sestito was acquired by the Flyers and the Ducks, who dealt for Brian McGrattan yesterday, got even tougher in getting Brad Winchester.

Continue reading: Deadline Day 2011 Recap

Zenon Konopka keeps Chris Neil away from the net, April 8, 2010. Both players have trade rumors swirling around them. AP Photo/Reinhold Matay

Deadline Day 2011

Today is one of the most fun days on the NHL calendar and not because of any game action. It's trade deadline day! A national holiday in Canada, I hear.

Where we're following:

• Player Movement & Rumors - our own forum, heavily moderated on a day like today, and bursting with everything about to go down.
• TSN - they're trade-centric today with a few ways to keep track of what's going on. They might be the best in the business when they're focusing on work and not trying to discredit Nick Kypreos. Our picks: we suggest the Trade Tracker, a small window that opens up and stays up-to-date. You can also listen in live right in that window. Tradecentre Live - Holy crap, it's the future! Video! Wait... not you USA, or anyone else not in Canada, for that matter. But if you love TSN that much, click away, they might not let you watch TSN, but they will play commercials for you.
• Sportsnet.ca - having a few issues this morning, Sportsnet also offers multiple ways to follow Deadline Day. They have their own Trade Tracker and also have a live video feed of their coverage. Non-Canada (that's you America): this will work for you.
• CBC - the HNIC homeland has setup their own Trade Deadline Special. It's a stream of stuff, including personnel's Twitter feeds. There's Canada-only video. Join in, and make Marek work.
• The Score - a nice, simple trade tracker. They put my boy Wyshysnki on the radio, too.
• NHLPA - the union has put together their own Trade Tracker. Follow the millions move around.
• NHL.com - the mothership has a trade tracker and blog setup for the day.

On TV:

• USA - the NHL Network in the US is simulcasting TSN's coverage. 
• Canada - turn your TV on.

B.J. Crombeen fights Tanner Glass. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward

Crombeen Entertains, Ericsson Surprises

Thursday only produced two fights, but both were fairly notable.

B.J. Crombeen is quietly having his best season of his career, fighting-wise. His first-ever meeting with Tanner Glass during Blues-Canucks last night was a good one. Be sure to check it out.

Jonathan Ericsson also fought and did well against Steve Ott during the third period of Stars-Wings. Yes, that's not a misprint. A Detroit player actually fought.

It was the ninth Wings scrap of the year, but it honestly feels like less. Either way, it's always good to hear Mickey Redmond during a fight again.

Continue reading: Crombeen Entertains, Ericsson Surprises

Nolan Yonkman ducks away from a punch from an already bloodied Jody Shelley on Tuesday night. AP Photo/Tom Mihalek

Familiar Faces

A handful of faces from past seasons have dropped the gloves this week, none more surprising than Francis Lessard, who continues to see playing time for the Sens and got into a quick scrap with Darcy Hordichuk on Thursday.

The fight was Lessard's second during his call-up. He is still seeing time with the big club along with quite a few of his minor league teammates in a revamped lineup for Ottawa. How long Lessard will stay remains a mystery, although no one would mind if it was for the rest of the year.

On Wednesday, Nolan Yonkman was outgunned by Jody Shelley in more ways than one. After declining an invitation to fight and drawing a penalty on Yonkman, Shelley obliged once Yonkman stepped out of the box and scored a bloody, come-from-behind victory. The bout was Yonkman's first since just after the lockout.

Jordin Tootoo was also cleared to return to action for the Preds and danced with Jared Boll in an entertaining tilt.

Continue reading: Familiar Faces

Jay Miller fights Chris Nilan in the first of two bouts on Dec 6, 1985. They fought five times in the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry. AP Photo/Peter Southwick

Rivalries Unlocked

We've unlocked year restrictions on our rivalry and loyalty pages. Only containing numbers for the past decade, they now contain full information for every regular season we have in our archives.

For the NHL, our current numbers go back to 1957-58.

The Original Six teams are all fun to look at, but we now know the Canadiens and Bruins have easily fought the most over the past 50+ years. Bruins Team Rivals | Canadiens Team Rivals

Biggest Bruin basher? Chris Nilan. Hab hater? Jay Miller and Lydon Byers (for the Bruins, both Rob Ray and Torrie Robertson have more majors vs the Canadiens).

Continue reading: Rivalries Unlocked

Francis Lessard, left, and Jay Rosehill fight. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young

Toe-to-Toe

Francis Lessard made sure that his first NHL regular season game in over five years was going to be a memorable one.

Lessard hooked up with a familiar foe in Jay Rosehill during Saturday's Leafs-Sens game and the two went toe-to-toe for the entire length of a fantastic fight.

George Parros and Cam Janssen nearly one-upped them in Ducks-Blues. Parros had Janssen's number early on in their heavyweight battle, but Janssen caught Parros and came firing back towards the end of a long and fun bout.

Elsewhere, Zenon Konopka tangled with Kyle Clifford, passed Jared Boll and regained second place in total fighting majors in one of eight fights last night.

Continue reading: Toe-to-Toe

Ryan Wilson dominates Nick Johnson in a fight on Wednesday. AP Photo/Chris Schneider

Slow Grind

After one of the busiest weeks in recent memory, things have grinded down to a slow halt, with a total of six fights coming out of the last four days of scheduled games.

Thursday saw Benoit Pouliot land some short punches on Shawn Horcoff, who covered up when Pouilot went after him following Horcoff hitting him from behind during the closing moments of Habs-Oilers.

Zenon Konopka and Adam McQuaid also squared off in a middleweight bout during B's-Isles, but the extended staredown between the two didn't result in much of a fight.

Other notable scraps from the week so far included John Erskine drawing even with Andy Sutton and Ryan Wilson scoring a decisive win over Nick Johnson.

Continue reading: Slow Grind

Jody Shelley fights Kevin Westgarth. AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Kings Scrappers Steadily Growing

The Kings are a relatively young team for the most part, especially in the fighting department. Following the departures of Raitis Ivanans and Sean O'Donnell, rookies Kevin Westgarth and Kyle Clifford have been asked to step up, and they've answered the call well.

Clifford has shown that he can handle himself well in any weight class, and did just that in handily defeating a tough customer in Daniel Carcillo early in Sunday's Kings-Flyers meeting.

Westgarth also dropped the gloves, doing well against Jody Shelley. It was a bout that marked the fourth straight fight in which Westgarth has impressed against better than average competition after entering the year with lofty expectations due to continual preseason succcess and a big reputation in the minors.

The pair of fights launched L.A. into a tie for tenth place with the Sharks on the team fighting major leaderboard.

Continue reading: Kings Scrappers Steadily Growing

Brad Staubitz fights Cam Janssen. AP Photo/Genevieve Ross

Cooling Down

The past week in the NHL has been crazy to say the least, so it's not surprising that Saturday was somewhat tame compared to the last handful of days.

Still, that doesn't mean that the Blues and Wild got the memo. Three bouts came out of their game last night, including a decent scrap between Cam Janssen and Brad Staubitz. A heated scrum at the end of the game also had David Backes and Clayton Stoner pairing off.

Elsewhere, P.K. Subban is continuing to make himself noticed, like it or not. He took on Joffrey Lupul in Lupul's first fight in Toronto during Leafs-Habs.

Subban challenged Lupul following a hit along the end boards. While motioning that he was about to take his helmet off, Lupul went to do the same (both wear visors) and Subban grabbed ahold of him anyway.

Continue reading: Cooling Down