from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

George Parros’s opening-night concussion, sustained in a scrap with ex-Bruin Colton Orr, is stirring the pot about the future of fighting. Respected general managers Ray Shero, Steve Yzerman, and Jim Rutherford expressed their reservations about fighting to TSN after Parros’s injury. But the players are the men bashing their knuckles, flattening their noses, and experiencing the mental strain of fighting — and failing — in front of thousands of fans. They should dictate its future.

If they say no mas, who are we, as spectators, to say otherwise? But the next player I meet to declare fighting off limits will be my first.

There are exceptions to fighting’s honor, John Scott chasing Phil Kessel being one of them. But for the most part, in what sounds like an oxymoron, fighters practice decorum. You ask others to fight. You don’t pick on non-fighters. You stick up for a teammate. You don’t punch once the fight is over. You don’t gloat upon victory. Hockey is a violent sport. Players get hurt, far more often in regular game play than fights. If players want to keep fighting, that should be good enough for its consumers.

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