Fighting after clean hits has been happening for years now, but it's come under the spotlight in recent weeks and was even brought up at the NHL's GM meetings. One instance of a fight after a clean hit happened during Tuesday's game between Dallas and Vancouver.
Just over halfway through the opening period, Canucks defenceman
Noah Juulsen laid a clean hit on Stars forward
Luke Glendening. After the hit, Juulsen skates back into his zone, where he's then jumped by Stars forward
Radek Faksa.
The fight didn't last too long before the two were separated by the officials, but neither player received five-minutes for fighting. Faksa was given four-minutes for roughing, while Juulsen got two-minutes for roughing.
In order to limit these types of fights, the NHL's officials need to start enforcing the rules. In the rule book, there is a two-minute minor penalty for instigating for a reason and that reason is to try and limit or end fights after clean hits, etc.
But could the NHL do more? TSN's Craig Button had an interesting take on how to deal with fights after clean hits. Button says that the player who fights the one who made the hit should receive two-minutes for instigating, five-minutes for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct. Meanwhile, the one who made the hit and is force into fighting doesn't receive anything. Personally, I think this would be interesting to see and could limit the amount of fights we see after clean hits.
What do you think the NHL should do to deter fighting after clean hits? Have your say in the poll below!
WHAT SHOULD THE NHL DO TO COMBAT FIGHTING AFTER CLEAN HITS? MARCH 15 135 ANSWERS |
| CRAIG BUTTON'S IDEA | 26 | 19.3 % |
| ENFORCE THE INSTIGATOR PENALTY MORE | 66 | 48.9 % |
| PLAYER RECEIVES GAME MISCONDUCT | 26 | 19.3 % |
| SEE RESULTS | 17 | 12.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS |
