Hall of Famer Paul Coffey talks hitting in modern day hockey

There's no doubt Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey played through some of the hardest hitting times in NHL history, playing from 1980 until his retirement in 2001.

Coffey, now 58, recently told Sportsnet's podcast, “Writer's Bloc” that while he is a fan of what the game has evolved into, he misses the grittier, more physical aspect of play from previous decades.

The one thing I wish, and can I say again I love watching the game, it's great, I wish there was more hitting. I wasn't a hitter, but I'll tell you what, if I had my proverbial head up my rear-end one game and I wasn't into it and somebody hit me, it certainly woke me up real fast. I think that part of the game is gone.

He went on to further explain his stance;

You put traffic, you start hitting guys, game gets a lot more interesting. The real players come out to play, the real players know how to think in traffic and that was an exciting part of the game that I don't know if it'll ever come back.

Coffee was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004, after a career that spanned 25 NHL seasons. He ranks second among all NHL defenseman in goals, assists and points. He also holds the record for the most goals by a defenseman in a season (48). Through his career, Coffey netted 396 goals and 1,531 points in 1,409 games.

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