Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan Was Right About Fighting

Toronto Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan’s name came up in the now-made-public e-mails from the National Hockey League – but in a positive, progressive way.

The debate of whether or not fighting has a place in the game anymore has been going on for years, but it’s interesting to see a figure like Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan take a new-age approach to the game. Shanahan was no stranger to dropping his gloves so it’s a bit shocking to read the following passage tweeted out by James Mirtle.

The 18 year veteran of the NHL racked up 96 fighting majors in his regular season, and post season, career (according to hockeyfights.com), but while he was head of the NHL Department of Player Safety he was trying to start a movement against fighting.

The e-mail document, published by the Globe and Mail, is dated September 2^nd, 2011 – so this isn’t a new theory by Brendan Shanahan that he’s just entertaining on the fly.

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So if you’re wondering why the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have any pure fighters – and likely won’t in the near future – it’s because the man that Maple Leafs Nation has embraced as their fearless leader, and praised over the last two years, doesn’t believe in that aspect of the game.

I enjoy the entertainment of a hockey fight as much as the next person, and I’ll find myself yelling at the television encouraging an ongoing scrap, but, from a player safety standpoint, I understand completely where Shanahan is coming from. I also don’t think it holds much value to the actual product.

Fighting was long considered the deterrent that kept stray rats away from hunting and injuring star players. To ignore the fact that that statement has simply no merit in the NHL right now is foolish. Fighting does nothing – absolutely nothing – for the actual game of hockey. It provides brief entertainment for fans, but nothing of substance for the game at ice level.

If you find me a fight that has taken place in 2015-2016 (or go back as far as you need) that has actually stopped anything from happening, please, e-mail me with the video evidence. I’ll gladly re-consider my current stance. For now I’ll enjoy the Maple Leafs talented youth that are getting all the ice time.

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The game is about speed and skill. It’s about actual talent, not five minute per game players whose claim to fame was rising into the league based purely on an irrelevant punch count – all the while taking away a roster spot from a hockey player who could actually play hockey.

The current batch of pro-fisticuff dinosaurs that scarcely litter the AHL, longing for one more game as if it will make a difference, might be singing a different tune right now, but the ones that have left the game – according to Shanahan’s e-mail – aren’t singing the same song as their former colleagues.

A fighter in today’s NHL will retire with an accomplishment list as long as a blank page – to go with (potentially) severe head trauma. Where’s the safety in that? All because there is a (declining in numbers) group of people who believe that fighting deters injuries and dirty play? That’s insane, and it’s even more insane that Shanahan said this years ago and there still isn’t any meaningful traction.

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I believe in what Shanahan is doing with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization on and off the ice, but his most important contribution to the NHL has seemingly gone overlooked by his former bosses for years – and at the expense of their employees.

The Maple Leafs are a progressive organization right now, and Shanahan is leading the charge.