What we are seeing now might be an equally profound shift, although with far happier results in terms of the entertainment value of the product. After at least three decades of debate, much of it precipitated by the bluster and blather of Don Cherry and his ilk, it would appear fighting in the National Hockey League is on its way out. Rules might have chipped away at the role of the fighter, but the role of the enforcer didn’t really disappear until speed became indispensable.

The bare stats are indisputable. Fighting is down sharply over the past five seasons, in part because the penalties are stiffer, but also because teams can’t afford to waste the roster spots on two or three enforcers.

Fighting, once so absolutely central to the league’s mythology and its marketing, is dying a quiet death. At least 20 years late, perhaps, but better late than never. The virtual end of fighting has had one unanticipated by-product: Despite everything the troglodytes have been telling us, it has made for a significantly better game. Faster, more entertaining, more unpredictable.

-Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette.