A Heavyweight Sighting

Valentine's Day 2012 marked something seldom seen in the NHL this year: a true heavyweight clash.

Young Minnesota Wild enforcer Matt Kassian squared off against veteran NHL fighter George Parros of the Anaheim Ducks. It started off pretty open, with both players landing solid shots before it digressed into grappling.

This marks Matt Kassian's steepest challenge of the year, and it comes against a club in Anaheim that is one of only a handful of teams to carry a legitimate heavyweight enforcer these days.

This was George Parros' first fight since December 26th and only his seventh fight all season. Last season he had a total of 27, with seven of those FMs coming before Thanksgiving. Matt Kassian has moved into the tough guy role due to the demotion of Brad Staubitz to Houston. He's had a hard time finding dance partners and this was only his fourth fight of the year, the first since taking on Darcy Hordichuk twice in the same game in December.

With how things tighten up down the stretch with teams battling for playoff spots, fights between heavyweights like Parros and Kassian could be close to done for the season.

Something more common

There is no love lost between divisional rivals St. Louis and Columbus. Last night we saw another chapter added as Derek Dorsett and B.J. Crombeen dropped the gloves for a middleweight duel. It was a locked-out, technical, right-hand battle that had few punches thrown and fewer landed.