Matt Kassian on His Role

The banter in the locker room left me conflicted after reflecting on former Wild fighter Derek Boogaard, his death and all the stories that followed it detailing the emotional and physical toll that enforcers experience. The death of Boogaard and two other enforcers last year shined a spotlight on the role of hockey fighters. It was not a pretty picture: Numerous former enforcers revealed how much they suffered and, in some cases, hated their job but accepted that role anyway because it was their only means of playing in the NHL.

Given the sensitive nature of that subject, those lighthearted questions over Kassian’s two-round bout against Hordichuk somehow felt inappropriate, or perhaps in poor taste.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Kassian said Wednesday.