freebuddy Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Mike Milbury says time has come to rid NHL of fighting Former Boston Bruin tough guy says concussions are reason fights need to stop. Mike Milbury, former player, coach and GM, says the time has come for fighting to be taken out of the NHL game. Published on Oct 10 2014 STAR WIRE SERVICES Mike Milbury spent 1,552 minutes in the penalty box during his 12-season NHL career. Twice he logged more than 200 penalty minutes in a season, helped by the fact he had 76 NHL fights, according to hockeyfights.com. Often hot-tempered, Milbury once went into the stands to confront a fan during his playing days. But Milbury, now an NBC analyst, believes fighting should no longer be part of the game. Asked on an NBC Sports Network pre-game show what it means that several notable tough guys dont have NHL jobs, Milbury said: Its telling me its time to get rid of fighting. Its telling me its over. As much as I liked a good scrap in my day, there are too many issues here involving concussions, too many problems. Teams are going away from it. Lets grow up and get rid of it. Since 2008-09, fighting majors are down about 36 per cent, according to hockeyfights.com. There were fewer than 1,000 fighting majors last season. So many problems with concussions, Milbury repeated. If you eliminate certain things one of them is a fight and you can eliminate a concussion, you have to do it. There are too many guys seriously hurt. http://m.thestar.com/#/article/sports/hockey/2014/10/09/mike_milbury_says_time_has_come_to_rid_nhl_of_fighting.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRypien37 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I say time has come to get Mike Milbury off of TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockhart Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I notice the people that think fighting shouldn't be part of the game are always glued to it when a fight happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rounoush Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 This game needs fighting. It's great. Mike Millbury should shut his cake hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkSniper Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 What's he talking about? Clearly we need the players to fight each other holding shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Good riddance to staged fights, goons and enforcers so long as there's still room for the honest emotional fight. Seeing Hamhuis and Nugent Hopkins go at it was such a wtf moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsedin33 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Eh, I doubt you will ever 'get rid' of it. I think it will still happen due to the violent nature of game and the way some games are reffed, people will just get stiffer penalties if anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoosh Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 My initial thought is to get rid of fights too. I rarely get super excited about fights, so I can live without them. But Hammer vs. Nuge was such an energy booster that it got me thinking again about the 'positives' there is with fighting. But then the Dan Hamhuis interview afterwards got me thinking again, is it okay to hit another guy? Is that the kinda example we want to send out to fans and future NHL -hopefulls? Hammer said he will have some explaining to do when he gets home to his kids... I couldn't do that myself, say it's bad to hit another guy and do it myself for the sake of entertainment and then go home again and say it's wrong. How can you eliminate fights from the game all together? Come playoff time the intensity and hitting power will be at such a high level that it'll create scrums almost every shift. You'd have to get rid of the shoving matches too as they often get even uglier that the fights themselves. And that would take away a lot of the intensity and excitement from the game. Staged fights between goons or dirty plays like from this class-A idiot in the AHL, Trevor Gillies did, last week should be absolutely out of the picture and penalized big time if they occur. But removing fights after a big hit, coming to the aid of a rookie or star player at the right time? I dunno. Should that be taken away from us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 My initial thought is to get rid of fights too. I rarely get super excited about fights, so I can live without them. But Hammer vs. Nuge was such an energy booster that it got me thinking again about the 'positives' there is with fighting. But then the Dan Hamhuis interview afterwards got me thinking again, is it okay to hit another guy? Is that the kinda example we want to send out to fans and future NHL -hopefulls? Hammer said he will have some explaining to do when he gets home to his kids... I couldn't do that myself, say it's bad to hit another guy and do it myself for the sake of entertainment and then go home again and say it's wrong. How can you eliminate fights from the game all together? Come playoff time the intensity and hitting power will be at such a high level that it'll create scrums almost every shift. You'd have to get rid of the shoving matches too as they often get even uglier that the fights themselves. And that would take away a lot of the intensity and excitement from the game. Staged fights between goons or dirty plays like from this class-A idiot in the AHL, Trevor Gillies did, last week should be absolutely out of the picture and penalized big time if they occur. But removing fights after a big hit, coming to the aid of a rookie or star player at the right time? I dunno. Should that be taken away from us? Absolutely not. Because that would simply allow no skill goons like Gillies to take runs at stars and not have to answer for it. Not only was Milbury a terrible GM, he's a terrible analyist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Absolutely not. Because that would simply allow no skill goons like Gillies to take runs at stars and not have to answer for it. Not only was Milbury a terrible GM, he's a terrible analyist. Gillies isn't even a good enough goon to crack Calgary's roster. Goons are becoming extinct. We don't need to be rid of fighting tokill off goons. They are dying out already. Fighting isn't causing the concussion problem. The speed of the game is. And kids not playing smart. You see players turn their backs to hits but players expecting not to get smashed into the boards. The removal of the two line pass allows kids to fly through the neutral zone flying into a big 6'3 220 pound D-man prime for being destroyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Fights in hockey sells.... When hockey competes with the major US sports for TV viewing... Right or wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbro Baggins Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Mike Miblury says time has come for the implementation of mandatory shoes in NHL fighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoosh Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Fights in hockey sells.... When hockey competes with the major US sports for TV viewing... Right or wrong... Tru dat. I think the game needs to sell itself for what it is. Not staged hockey fights. If it doesn't sell, then it won't. But that of course isn't what the NHL thinks. Obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 People don't take a lot of stock in what Milbury says anymore. I can see why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuck-Shot Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 lol mike and his army of idiots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Sparkle Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 People don't take a lot of stock in what Milbury says anymore. I can see why. of course not. he has a stock of hambones in his freezer. that butthole is takin all our hambones and shovin it down his gullet, and he's laughin at us, on tv! don't you wish you were fat, out of shape, and balding but being paid money to be on tv? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I really don't care what Milbury thinks. His ilk is no different than the main stream media. They try to stay relevant by creating issues that they can massage for their benefit. Anyone who understands the game realizes that pure enforcers have been on the way out of hockey for over 5 years now. CUP contending teams have to role 4 lines to win. Enforcers who play less than 5 TOI's a night don't cut it. Fans should be very vigilant about NHL actions to protect their 'assets' from possible injuries that fighting might present. From a corporate prospective it is not a good idea to have a Crosby fighting or being hit along the boards. How much can the game be changed to protect players before the game loses. IMHO hockey has always been the challenge of finesse versus physical challenge. Each year the physical challenge aspect is reduced to the detriment of the game. Players who do not want the physical challenge can usually avoid it. Bottom line is the hockey is a very physical contact game. When players can no longer 'police themselves' to a degree the game will again take another step back from what it was originally all about. Another form of elitism which permeates today's world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmployeeoftheMonth Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 If they are really worried about concussions and injuries they would get rid of the armor they use now instead of pads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heretic Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 The only thing I would like to see is for players to be ejected for fighting - not the slap on the wrist 5 minutes. Only non fighting based professional sport where that doesn't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfstonker Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 My initial thought is to get rid of fights too. I rarely get super excited about fights, so I can live without them. But Hammer vs. Nuge was such an energy booster that it got me thinking again about the 'positives' there is with fighting. But then the Dan Hamhuis interview afterwards got me thinking again, is it okay to hit another guy? Is that the kinda example we want to send out to fans and future NHL -hopefulls? Hammer said he will have some explaining to do when he gets home to his kids... I couldn't do that myself, say it's bad to hit another guy and do it myself for the sake of entertainment and then go home again and say it's wrong. How can you eliminate fights from the game all together? Come playoff time the intensity and hitting power will be at such a high level that it'll create scrums almost every shift. You'd have to get rid of the shoving matches too as they often get even uglier that the fights themselves. And that would take away a lot of the intensity and excitement from the game. Staged fights between goons or dirty plays like from this class-A idiot in the AHL, Trevor Gillies did, last week should be absolutely out of the picture and penalized big time if they occur. But removing fights after a big hit, coming to the aid of a rookie or star player at the right time? I dunno. Should that be taken away from us? I think you are totally messed up here and so is Dan to a certain extent. It is part of the sport, it serves to stop silly plays due to grievances like taking your stick to a guy or going for his head with your elbow. In contact sports there are things done in the heat of the moment which in the case of hockey are better sorted out using fists. What does Dan suggest a boxer say to his daughter "don't hit other kids, I hit men because I am a bad person"? It is up to Dan as a father to explain the difference or if your kid is a boy you are going to screw him up for life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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