Shots to the Head

[JayByrd]

Neither the league nor the PA are likely to advocate for a "ban 'em for life" philosophy toward repeat offenders. It might be justifiable but the Player's Association will protect it's membership, and the league's member clubs won't want to risk losing players that way.

Enforcers existed because there were players who had no marketable skills other than fighting. I know that doesn't describe all of those players, but many. Now, if you can't play 8-10 minutes and not make a fool of yourself, you won't be on an NHL roster. And if you're good enough to do that, you're not going to waste your time (and your knuckles) getting into 20-30 fights a year.

And when I hear about how guys like Mike Peluso are doing, it's tough to be in favour of that kind of thing.

[GordonH]

Neither the league nor the PA are likely to advocate for a "ban 'em for life" philosophy toward repeat offenders. It might be justifiable but the Player's Association will protect it's membership, and the league's member clubs won't want to risk losing players that way.

Enforcers existed because there were players who had no marketable skills other than fighting. I know that doesn't describe all of those players, but many. Now, if you can't play 8-10 minutes and not make a fool of yourself, you won't be on an NHL roster. And if you're good enough to do that, you're not going to waste your time (and your knuckles) getting into 20-30 fights a year.

And when I hear about how guys like Mike Peluso are doing, it's tough to be in favour of that kind of thing.

Meanwhile neither the league or PA are doing much to protect members from being hit to head, with potential of losing that player to serious head injury.
Slap on the wrist, go along and play.

[JayByrd]

Meanwhile neither the league or PA are doing much to protect members from being hit to head, with potential of losing that player to serious head injury.
Slap on the wrist, go along and play.

Agreed. I didn't say the solution wasn't viable, just that neither of the two sides will be in favour of it.

[sooperphreek]

we have drones for planes now. we should take the human element out of sports too-so no one gets injured? make robots that can take head shots and entertain us again. less pussification like mike millbury put it. imagine a game where the refs and players are robots! there would be no missed calls and the players would all be prototypical freewheeling europeans that can actually take a hit!! except for the fins of course-they play like men too.