Fighting Simmers as Rosters Settle

There have been a few articles published recently about the drastic increase in fighting this preseason.  Any time those are written during the preseason, it’s premature.  The literal fight for roster spots happens early, and tails off as players are sent to minor league or junior teams and NHL rosters solidify.  With only two NHL vs NHL preseason games left (the rest are NHL vs European teams), it’s unlikely there will be many more gloves on the ice and the numbers will only look like a slight bump up from last season.  No one at this site would have complained if there were some dramatic increase, but that’s just not the case.

Western Canadian scraps

On that note, there was only one game with a fight (or two) last night, the Canucks at Oilers.  Unfortunately I missed the first, although I’m sure video will turn up, but the second scrap, between Jannik Hansen and Gilbert Brule was a good one, and definitely left an impression on anyone who watched it.  Something along the lines of “who knew they could throw like that?”

More instigators

The Globe and Mail has a piece about the NHL looking to call the instigator penalty more.

Officials were told that the instigator has been overlooked too often.

“It’s not new,” Gregson said in a recent interview. “We’re not changing the wording and we’re not trying to make every fight an instigator call.

“But if a player travels (to start a fight), you have to ask ‘did someone clearly instigate?’ And if so, apply the rule.”

The extra two minutes for instigating was designed to discourage fighting, which dipped after the 2004-05 lockout season but has come back in force in recent campaigns.

No need to make a reaction until we’re a few months into the season and we see what’s actually being called at that point.  Until then, it’s just a nice quote for a league official to give to the press.

Layout tweaks

For those who regularly browse the player and team pages here, you’ll notice the year-by-year listings on each page have flipped to show the most recent years first.  This was done for a few reasons.  The archives have always displayed them that way, and from feedback, it was easily the preferred listing.  Now they’re all consistent.  Also, team listings were getting quite long as we add older seasons, and now only the last 10 seasons are shown on team pages, splitting the full list onto its own page.

Adding to that, more NHL logs have been made public.  There will be more NHL, AHL and juniors logs released soon.  As always, if you notice any errors, please email me.

Still time for giveaway

There’s still time to enter the NHL 10 giveaway.

Videos added

Jannik Hansen vs Gilbert Brule Sep 27, 2009
Kim Clackson vs Stan Jonathan Jan 27, 1980
Kim Clackson vs Stan Jonathan Jan 27, 1980
Jared Boll vs Shawn Thornton Sep 26, 2009
Michael Blunden vs Chuck Kobasew Sep 26, 2009

Some reads

Flames enforcer can’t wait to ‘get ‘em’
Leblond trying to remain optimistic
Thornton has been a nice fit
Rangers coach John Tortorella says lay off new Blueshirt Donald Brashear
Admirals, Lightning mix it up

2008-09 hockeyfights.com Awards

Darcy Hordichuk punches Andre Roy. AP Photo/Larry MacDougal

I present the 2008-09 hockeyfights.com Awards.

As has been the case for the past few years, the awards are a collaborative effort by the hockeyfights.com content team headed up by Jon Porus. Tons of thanks to all of them.

Below are all our categories this season. Cast your vote and have your say.

• Fight of the Year
• Kocur Award: TKO or KO of the Year
• Probert Award: Fighter of the Year
• Crowder Award: Rookie of the Year
• People's Choice Award
• Broad Street Bully Award: Best Enforcing Team
• Worst Enforcing Team
• Most Improved/Comeback Fighter
• Best Mid-Season Fighter Pick-Up of the Year
• Best Team Feud
• Grimson Award: Best Punching Power/Most Destructive Fighter
• Best Player Feud
• Biggest Let-Down
• Schultz Award: Most Old-School Moment
• Kimble Award: Most Exciting Fighter
• Neely Award: Best Skilled Fighter of the Year

Three in the West

A slow night in the East led to a semi-busy night in the West with three scraps on Tuesday. The easy pick for “Fight of the Night” (and possibly Fight of the Week) was Garth Murray and Eric Nystrom‘s toe-to-toe battle in Phoenix that also featured one of the weirdest starts to a fight in some time.

Following a faceoff at center ice late in the first period of Coyotes-Flames, Murray and Nystrom dropped the gloves at the same time Daniel Carcillo and Brandon Prust did. Murray and Nystrom wound up having a go, while Carcillo and Prust were separated after squaring off.

In other action, former Lightning teammates exchanged blows in Predators-Canucks as Nick Tarnasky took on Shane O’Brien and Ryane Clowe completed a Gordie Howe hat trick with a third period bout against Erik Reitz in Wild-Sharks.

Comments Fixed

For those unable to comment on the blog posts for the last couple of days, we’ve addressed those issues. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Videos added

Erik Reitz vs Ryane Clowe Nov 4, 2008
Nick Tarnasky vs Shane O’Brien Nov 4, 2008
Garth Murray vs Eric Nystrom Nov 4, 2008
Stu Grimson vs Marty McSorley Nov 19, 1992
Stu Grimson vs Marty McSorley Nov 19, 1992

Some reads

Laraque lives by hockey’s fight code
Melrose Gets His Legs as the Lightning Gets Its Points
Out of control
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur to undergo surgery
Speed and energy still there for Selanne
Modano clears the air with teammates
Hits keep on coming with Torres
Kordic deal was Stellick’s ‘Uecker moment’
Anderson’s day finally comes
Dallas Stars’ pests testing team’s patience | With their Twins of Tumult, the Stars are winning no popularity contests on the ice or off
Wild not hot on Sunbelt
NHLPA Union Files Complaint With NLRB
Flyers, Brendan Shanahan talking
Chuck Kobasew itching to get back on ice

Windy City Wars

All of Monday night’s action took place in Chicago courtesy of a pair of fights in the second period of last night’s Avalanche-Blackhawks game. Ian Laperriere and Ben Eager wrestled around in close quarters and were followed by Cody McLeod and Adam Burish, who each landed their fair share of shots in a spirited scrap.

Welcome the Fight of the Week

Frequent emails have led to the creation of our newest addition, a Fight of the Week column. Every Sunday or Monday we’ll post our pick of the week, and link up a couple of other good ones as well. Since the clip will have a higher quality version of the fight inside, we recommend upgrading Flash for those experiencing trouble. The column also has its own feed.

Videos added

Cody McLeod vs Adam Burish Nov 3, 2008 x2
Ian Laperriere vs Ben Eager Nov 3, 2008 x2
Nathan Perrott vs Raitis Ivanans Nov 27, 2004
Ben Ondrus vs Kevin Bieksa Nov 17, 2004
Keith Tkachuk vs Warren Rychel Oct 10, 1992

Listen up

Wayne Simmonds on Hockey Night in Canada Radio

Some reads

McLellan living up to promise with Sharks
McKenzie: Modano clears the air with teammates
Monday Morning Puck Shot
Ducks’ Parros aching to play
Bruins ‘D’ punches in for work
In defense of fighting
Ott responds
Montreal gears up for Roy’s sweater retirement

New Fight of the Week Column

A frequent email I receive is for my pick of the fight of the week (or month).  Instead of responding to a slew of emails each week, I just started a Fight of the Week column.

Every Sunday or Monday we’ll post our pick of the past week, and link up a couple of other great ones.  The post will include a higher quality version of the fight.  If you have any trouble viewing it, I recommend upgrading Flash.  The Fight of the Week has its own feed.

A related theme in the emails I receive is for an updated yearly highlights list (like one we did for 2006-07), and sorting by rating.  We should have updated highlight lists up soon for this season and last season.  Sort by rating is something we’d eventually like to add, but we don’t know when we’ll have that complete.

Phaneuf and Bernier Start Things Off

It was a relatively quiet slate of games last night but Dion Phaneuf and Steve Bernier gave us the second fight of the regular season when they dropped the gloves late in the third period of Flames-Canucks.

Phaneuf crushed Henrik Sedin with an open-ice hit in the Calgary zone, prompting Bernier to come to the aid of his teammate. The two then battled to an uneventful draw. Vancouver winning the game 6-0 caused things to get a little chippy towards the end, potentially setting the stage for the next meeting between the two on Saturday night.

Chase in a different kind of fight

Just like he’s been doing for much of his life, Kelly Chase is fighting once again. Except this time he’s not sure who is opponent might be, or what it’s doing to his body. In a recent interview, Chase revealed that doctors have found a lesion on his brain and thus far, it has left him without feeling in certain spots on the left side of his body.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Chase, a longtime fan favorite since his days with the Blues who now is the outspoken analyst on their radio broadcasts, has a lesion on his brain. He said it hasn’t been determined if the spot is cancerous, if it could lead to multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, another disorder or simply be cured.

“I don’t remember being scared of anything since my dad passed away when I was 15 and I had to take a lot of responsibilities at our farm’’ in Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan, he said Thursday. “You don’t like to go out and fight Bob Probert, but you’re not scared doing that — you’re just a little uneasy. This is different, but I know I’m going to beat it. I just have to know how big the guy is that I’m fighting here. The hope is it’s not cancer. They found it early, that’s a plus.’‘

We all wish the best for Chase and his family during this understandably difficult time. No matter what the diagnosis, we hope for Kelly to make a quick and full recovery.

A note about ads

We do our best to run unobtrusive and non-offending ads here. We have filters setup for many types of ads, like extreme animation, audio, pops, etc. We also have political ads blocked. It’s the political season here in the US, and there are political advertisements everywhere. From our point of view, we had two options: except all, without question, or accept none. We went with none.

For some time yesterday the filter failed and a few political ads were shown and our inbox quickly lit up from people who didn’t care to see them (specifically from whichever candidate it was for, and some were more sane than others). Our reasons for leaning towards showing no political ads were confirmed.

If you notice any political ads, or any others that may be inappropriate, please contact David.

Videos added

Dion Phaneuf vs Steve Bernier Oct 9, 2008
Jay Leach vs Ryan Stokes Oct 8, 2008
Matthew Spiller vs Scott Fletcher Oct 3, 2008

Listen up

Sean O’Donnell Interview

Some reads

Sheriff Boogaard needs new posse
Okposo needs to match hype
Malarchuk recovering after accidental shooting
Canadiens opening season in Buffalo without trio
Strange opener for Seabrook
Avery’s latest lip service sends mixed messages
Passing the torch
Rangers Raise the Curtain at Home With a New Cast
Leafs fans rock the Joe
Bertuzzi searches for stability in Calgary
Therrien sticks up for enforcer Godard
Brandon Sugden headed to Hartford

Preseason Ends Quietly

While both Mitch Fritz and Wade Belak were in the lineup last night for Isles-Cats, nothing came between them except for a near-brawl towards the end of the third period, thus ending the preseason on a quiet note. Technically, the Flyers still play the Phantoms in an exhibition game at the Spectrum tomorrow night but nothing is expected there except for a final goodbye to the Spectrum.

High ride

A revamp of the stats page has confirmed what we suspected - this preseason was very active.  There was no special reason, just a lot of players looking to make a name for themselves, whether it be to make the show, or quickly prove they can be a good teammate on a new team.

The page itself has a few more seasons added onto it.  We plan on expanding it further later this season.  Also, stats are now sortable, just click on any column header to sort, and click again to reverse it.

Traveling Tough Guys

With training camps coming to a close, more roster movement is taking place and some notable tough guys have been part of the action. While it looks like Steve MacIntyre and Trevor Gillies might be making the cut (Dan LaCouture already did in Carolina), Josh Gratton and Kevin Westgarth weren’t so lucky yesterday. While Westgarth was sent back to the AHL for more work, Gratton was placed on waivers, signaling the first time that the Predators will be going without an enforcer since their inception.

In addition, the Lightning also dealt rugged defenseman Shane O’Brien and Michel Ouellet to Vancouver in exchange for Lukas Krajicek and Juraj Simek yesterday afternoon.

Videos added

Ryan Malone vs Aaron Voros Oct 5, 2008
Mike Moore vs Rick Rypien Oct 2, 2008
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen vs Alexei Ponikarovsky Oct 5, 2008
Derek Dorsett vs Ryan Hollweg Oct 5, 2008
Stu Grimson vs Rob Ray Oct 21, 1992
Joel Otto vs Rob Blake Oct 15, 1992
Ronnie Stern vs Warren Rychel Oct 15, 1992
Jordin Tootoo vs Boris Valabik Oct 3, 2008

Listen up

Duck Cast with Steve Montador
Kevin Prendergast on Steve MacIntyre
Oct 3: Pre-game at Calgary - Steve MacIntyre

Some reads

Gillies hopes to make an impact
MacIntyre makes great first impression on teammates 
Sawmill sharpened Flame’s work ethic
Belak ready to deliver plenty of his mayhem
The Chicago way
A dozen years on ice: Roy Mlakar, OBJ’s 2008 CEO of the Year
Bob ‘Hound’ Kelly reflects on hockey, business at Spring-Ford Chamber event
A one-two punch
Stanley Cup champions find road to repeat a difficult one
What Czechs Want: NHL Fisticuffs

Fighting Finns

The FEL‘s inaugural regular season has begun and we’re covering it here at hockeyfights.com.

Just like the KHL, we’ve set up a page for it to display the latest fights and videos, top leaders, schedule and future archives.

On the first day of regular season action, Kip Brennan, who was skating in his first SM Liiga game, took on fellow former NHLer Sami Helenius, who has become a cult favorite over in Finland. Each got in their fair share of shots in what looked to be a solid draw.

For more Finnish Elite League info, you can check out our Euro league forum, or go to an individual FEL team page.

Update 930am: I asked Kip about the fight, and if he ever met up with Helenius at any point in his career.  He confirmed it was the first time these two have dropped the gloves and added, “We exchanged a couple of good punches. I ended up losing my balance at the end of the fight because his jersey gave way. It was a draw, if anything. I’m excited for the next one.” Unfortunately the league wasn’t as happy about the fight as the players and fans were. Word is the two may be suspended for two games. - David Singer

Sugden Support Grows

Some fans have organized a petition in an attempt to convince the NHL and/or the teams that rejected Brandon Sugden‘s training camp shot with the New York Islanders to possibly change their minds. With close to 500 signatures already, it’s pretty clear that many fans wouldn’t mind seeing “Sugar” lace up the skates this preseason.

Lindsay Kramer of the Syracuse Post-Standard now says that Sugden is getting to close finding which three four teams are preventing him from being reinstated after spending a couple of seasons in the LNAH following a brief retirement. If the NHLPA is unable to overturn his case, Sugden expects to sign with an AHL team in a couple of weeks.

McCabe heads south

The Leafs finally traded Bryan McCabe to Florida yesterday after reportedly having a deal finalized for weeks. Toronto received Mike Van Ryn and a fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft. It’s essentially a win-win situation for both clubs. McCabe had struggled with Toronto and a change of scenery may help both him and the Panthers, who now have a veteran presence in a defensive corps that seems to be relatively young. Toronto in turn scores added depth on the blueline and rids of the problem McCabe presented with both his salary and attitude towards the team.

New forums, new structure

We’ve made some changes in the forums, including every NHL team now having it’s own separate forum. Some other forums have been regrouped for easier navigating. A full list of the changes is here. Also be sure to check out this recap of our new coverage of the KHL’s inaugural season.

Some reads

Melrose Could Turn Lightning Into Cult Favorite
DeBrusk joins Oilers broadcast team
Former face of Senators ready for life as a Ranger
Howe’s that?
What an Act

KHL Koverage

The KHL‘s inaugural regular season has begun and we’re covering it here at hockeyfights.com.

Like other leagues, we’ve set up a page for it to display the latest fights and videos, top leaders, schedule and future archives.

On the first day, former NHLers Chris Simon and Darcy Verot both dropped the gloves in the third.  Verot took on Alexei Krovopuskov, who spent some time in the ECHL and wasn’t shy on PIMs.  Shortly after that, Simon wailed on Mikhail Fedoseev, a local (compared to Simon, at least) who’s been working his way up the former Soviet league circuit.

For more KHL info, you can check out our Euro league forum, or go to an individual KHL team page.

Videos added

Mikhail Fedoseev vs Chris Simon Sep 2, 2008
Alexei Krovopuskov vs Darcy Verot Sep 2, 2008