As the end of the Chris Neil era in Ottawa nears, do the Senators need to replace him with a guy up front who can handle himself with the gloves off?
Well, in a word - No.
Fighting in the NHL took another shot in the jaw last season, with 760 fighting majors, and assuming both players get a major that equates to 380 fights. In 1230 NHL games. There was a fight on average less than 1 of every 3 games.
That was a drop of almost 20% from 934 majors the previous year. There were 692 fighting majors in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, and in the full season before the lockout there were 1045 fighting majors.
It seems like NHL GM's are finally realizing that although they are usually pretty cheap, they can no longer use limited resources and bench space on a guy who is simply there to go out and fight.
Columbus was the only team with more than 35 fights last season, leading the league by a long shot with 44. By contrast, in 2010-11, St. Louis led the league with 78 fighting majors and 17 teams had more than 35 fights.
For Ottawa, they were one of the more pugilistic teams last season, dropping the gloves 33 times (tied for 3rd) last season led by Mark Borwiecki's 13 tilts (5th among individuals). Their number of fights fell from 2013-14's 39, but their standing went from T-7th to T-3rd.
The only concern I have is having a defenseman do a majority of your fighting. Borowiecki was far and away the most frequent pugilist among blueliners, and having that one of 6 has a greater impact on how the coach can deploy his lines than a forward where there are far more options to replace him for 5 minutes.
Fighting will always be part of the game, and I like a good tilt as much as anyone, but I am glad they are doing away with the players who are there to do only that and don't bring anything else to the game. And I am not including Neil in that latter group, because over the years he has been one of the better "enforcers" at bringing something else to the game than his fists. But at the forward position he is they guy who offers that element, with Zach Smith being the only other real threat to drop the gloves on even a semi-consistent basis.
The suggestion that stickwork and cheap shots will increase isn't valid because fighting is still allowed and people will still be held as accountable for there actions as they are now. It just won't be done by the guy who sits on the end of the bench and gets his 5 minutes while waiting for that tap on the shoulder.
So while he was signed to a 2-way contract this summer, don't expect to see Zack Stortini in a Senators jersey any time soon, even after Neil is gone.
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