Look at what happened to Derek Boogaard. He died at 28 from CTE after years of fighting in the NHL. That’s not some rare exception—studies show enforcers have way higher rates of brain damage and early death. The league’s own data proves fighting doesn’t even prevent cheap shots or dirty hits. It’s not a deterrent, it’s a risk that ruins lives. Banning fighting won’t make hockey soft, it’ll make it safer for skill players and tougher on actual violence. Other sports managed to drop fighting and got better for it. Why should hockey keep this relic around?

You keep calling fighting a "pressure valve," but the science doesn't back that up. The NHL's own study showed no correlation between fighting rates and cheap shots or intentional injuries. If fighting actually deterred dirty play, we'd see fewer concussions from hits in fighting-heavy games. We don't. What we do see is guys like Boogaard taking 200+ career fights and ending up with advanced CTE in his 20s. That's not civilized chaos, that's a predictable tragedy. And let's be real about "settling it like adults." Adults don't solve workplace disputes by punching each other in the head. Other contact sports—rugby, lacrosse, even basketball—found ways to police themselves without allowing bare-knuckle brawls. Hockey can too. The "it just works" argument falls apart when you look at the bodies piling up.

Look, you’re making a fair point that head trauma comes from all kinds of hits, not just fights. I get that. But here’s where the data disagrees with you — enforcers take way more hits to the head than skill players, and they suffer disproportionately from CTE. That’s not the thermostat, that’s the fire itself. Fighting adds a specific, repetitive trauma that doesn’t exist in most other hockey situations. And the whole “fighting prevents cheap shots” thing? The NHL studied it. They found zero evidence that fighting deters dirty hits. Zero. If it worked, we’d see a decline in concussions from illegal checks as fighting goes up. We don’t. You’re relying on a gut feeling, not facts. Other sports manage just fine with suspensions and fines. Hockey can too. Banning fighting means fewer predictable brain injuries and more accountability through rules, not fists.