its more complicated than that. coaches dont want their players fighting either. look at laviolette in carolina. not sure if he still has this policy, but he used to have a no-fight policy in his locker room.
also, a lot of coaches would rather have a skilled player on the bench rather than a goon who plays a minute and a half.
i think the real difference is that fighters arent what they used to be. before an enforcer type player had other skills. take marty mcsorley for example. he could skate, move the puck, and was a decent defenseman. does boogard have any hockey skills? now fights are staged. they rarely happen in the heat of the moment, and thus dont have any real impact on a game, whether it is protecting a star or gaining momentum for the team.
so, its no surprise that skilled players who play with an edge rarely drop the gloves. why would they sit in the box for 5 minutes or more when they are much more valuable to a team on the ice? |