Upon Further Review

This year in the NHL we were witness to the return to prominence of players such as Jose Theordore, Alex Kovalev and Jeremy Roenick to name just a few. And we also welcomed back (well some of us anyway) the return of hockey fights.

Up some 33% this season over last, fights became a staple, once again in many matchups. And while the league is still not at pre-lockout levels for fights, 38.46% of games this season featured a scrap which is just below the 41.14% in the ’03-’04 season.

Call it the Anaheim Ducks factor or whatever; there is no disputing that scraps have returned after a brief time spent in the box.

I met David Singer online a few years ago when he was just starting to get a foothold on the online market of serving up a daily dose of all this fistic (not Fistric, he’s in Dallas) at www.hockeyfights.com.

Since then he’s seen his site traffic grow significantly to the point where Singer himself has become a celebrity of sorts with his web site and it’s curator often used as sources and reference materials for journalists and broadcasters alike.

Where do you think I got that stat quoted above?

The site is not just for fans anymore.

I had a quick chat with Singer the other day online (who, we should point out, just became a first time father with baby Noah born last week, congrats David!) about the year that was in yard sales.

Marek: Last season the Anaheim Ducks lead the league in fighting majors and ended up winning the Cup. How much did that affect fighting this year?

Singer: A good amount, especially as the season went on and good teams were bringing tough players onto the roster. It's been a long time since any team carried enforcers with the playoffs in mind. At the same time, it's also been three years for rivalries to re-blossom, players to adjust to new interpretations to rules, and for GMs to bring some new-style tough guys into the league.

M: Do you think the NHL and PA will scrap the instigator rule? Should they?

S: The rule itself is going nowhere, and that's probably due to PR just as much, if not more, than what changing the rule could do to the game.

While I wouldn't mind seeing them do away with the instigator, I do think the league should at least consider modifying it. Do away with suspensions from repeated penalties, and get rid of the five-minutes remaining fines and suspensions.

Ditching the minor penalty wouldn't be the worst thing in the world either. How many times are you watching a game, see a player pick up the instigator penalty and hear the analyst say something like, "well, he had to do that"?

The league was very different when the instigator rule was introduced. It's time to amend it.

M: Who are some of the new comers who impressed you? Who's the next to make the jump to the NHL?

Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins is the real deal. He can play, he can fight.

If Lucic follows the path he's on, he'll be the next great power forward, something Boston cherishes.

Chicago’s Adam Burish has jumped into the pro game well. He's not sending players to the ice, but after one year in the USHL, he played a full four at Wisconsin. This was only his second year in the pros and he's not backing down from anyone.

Daniel Carcillo made it almost the full season on Wayne Gretzky's Coyotes. That in and of itself is pretty impressive. He's not a super heavy, he's fun to watch, and getting better.

The Flyers Riley Cote took the long road to the NHL. From the CHL on up he's been consistently doing what's expected of him. He's 26 now, and he's gone from being described as "willing" to having Georges Laraque call him the toughest pound for pound guy in the league.

Jared Boll of the Blue Jackets has a lot of potential. It's a little hard to ignore the rookie that led the NHL in fighting majors. Another young guy, not a super heavy, but exactly the type of tough player GMs are bringing into the league nowadays. Willing, skates well, willing, has the potential to put some points on the board, and did I say willing?

Waiting in the AHL

Steve MacIntyre - The AHL was his this season after playing AA for a few seasons. As good as he is, he'll be 28 over the summer, so there might not be many teams willing to give him a shot as he's a classic enforcer.

Jeremy Yablonski - Simply solid at the AAA level. At 28, he's also a little older, but a team knows exactly what they're getting in him.

Trevor Gillies - The 29-year old is not as active as he once was, but had a good season and deserves to have at least one other shot at the NHL (especially since his one NHL regular season fight saw him wobbling off the ice after taking on Derek Boogaard).

Jon Mirasty - It'd be impressive to see Mirasty go from the LNAH to the NHL. He'll be 26 over the summer and while it's unlikely to see him move up to Syracuse's parent team Columbus (as they just traded Jody Shelley in favor of keeping Boll), there could be another team out there interested in giving him a chance.

Younger AHL players that could make the jump up soon

Kevin Westgarth - His first full season in the AHL and he had 25 FMs this season. The NHL could always use another Princeton-educated enforcer.

Paul Bissonnette - The OHLer has done well at AA, and if he can play consistently well in the A, he might get a shot within the next few years.

B.J. Crombeen - He fits the new style of willing player, and the fans in Dallas should probably get used to seeing him.

M: What does the NHL think about your site?

S: I don't know. If I had to make an assumption, it'd be that they view the site just like they view that part of the game: It's part of hockey. There are a lot of fans that enjoy it, but they probably wouldn't want to endorse it in any way because of the misconception that hockey is filled with fighting (when most games don't have one fight). I have spoken to a few people in casual situations over the years, and they've always been very cordial and positive.

Tomorrow David Singer reveals his top 10 fights and fights of the 2007-2008 season right here at CBCSports.ca.

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