Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I'm ready to let go of the fighting era ...
I get that it's moving away, have always found it interesting to see MMA rising in the US with the NHL trying to avoid fighting though, but that's a different argument.
With Lucic though I don't think it comes down to fighting majors. It's more complicated than that. How many guys honestly were willing to fight him? What was his affect on the ice that isn't measured in fight totals? Will his absence mean more guys are run?
Just asking the questions, because I honestly don't know.
Guessing it's a bigger impact than some are willing to admit and less impactful than others assume.
|
I think an important question missing there is how many guys was Lucic willing to fight?
The thing with Lucic and most of the (few) enforcers left in the game is that they just fight each other. The “code” means they shy away from more rough stuff than they actually engage in. It doesn’t stop guys like Kane and Trouba from running around. We’ve seen that over the last couple of years.
Who was the last non-enforcer/bottom line-up fighter Lucic fought? Ian Cole? Zadorov in 2019?
The guys that run around don’t fight these guys. Lucic didn’t even go with Kassian when Kassian went chasing Tkachuk. Tkachuk had to fight Kassian himself. Hard to respect Lucic’s “toughness” after that.