Simmonds putting up a fight for fighting
Flyers forward believes OHL has gone too far with three-game limit for fights
Wayne Simmonds understands the risks in fighting, both at the NHL level and in his old stomping grounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
The Philadelphia Flyers forward doesn’t like what he’s seeing from the OHL, though, as it reshaped its fighting rules for the coming season.
The junior league announced Friday that it will suspend players for one game if they exceed a three-fight limit this season. Repeat offenders would get two games for every fight after. This is scaled back from the 10-fight limit the league imposed in the 2012-13 season.
“I don’t agree with it. I realize what they’re trying to do with it, with concussions and the studies they’ve done over the past few years,” Simmonds said on Tuesday at the Biosteel camp. “But I think they’ve got to allow players to police themselves and to try and eliminate some of the dirty hits and sneaky plays that happen. I think if you take fighting completely out of the game, we’ll have a lot more of that.”
At six-foot-two and 185 pounds, Simmonds isn’t a heavyweight in the NHL but he’s comfortable in a fight. He had five fighting majors last season, according to hockeyfights.com. His busiest season came in 2011-12, when he had 10 fights. Colorado Avalanche forward Cody McLeod led the league last season, according to the site, with 12 bouts. Simmonds played for the Owen Sound Attack and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 2006 to 2008, before starting his NHL career with the L.A. Kings in 2008.
“It seems like (the OHL is) clearly trying to take it out of the game, but slowly,” Simmonds said. “I think that may be dangerous because when guys get to the pro level, I don’t think it’ll ever be taken out.
“I don’t think guys will be able to handle themselves (in the NHL) as they should.” Simmonds sees the amount of fighting decreasing around him year by year, but the 27 year old said the game needs at least the threat of a fight on the ice.
“If you completely try to take fight- ing out of the game, you’ll have a lot of other things going on that I don’t think all the fans really understand,” he said.
“As a player, if the other team doesn’t have a guy out there that’s going to hold you accountable, you know there’s going to be some guys that will be going out sticking guys, slashing guys and elbowing guys in the head and taking liberties. I think fighting definitely has a place in the game.”
The OHL says that since their 10fight rule was introduced, fighting has dropped 50 per cent, with no one going over that limit the last two years.
“I agree with somewhat taking it away but not to the extent that they’re trying to do,” Simmonds said. “I think that maybe that 10-fight rule is a decent amount. You have 10 fights in a year, that’s a decent amount of fights. You could have three fights in two games and not think twice about it. I don’t agree with it.”
The league also has made blindside hits subject to receiving a minor, major, game misconduct or match penalty. They can also be reviewed for supplementary discipline from the league. The league also adopted the NHL’s hybrid icing rule.