Did the Olympics Shut the Door on Fighting's Future in the NHL?

During the Olympic hockey tournament, the majority of the punches thrown were between Finland and Sweden in the women’s bronze medal game.

The men’s hockey was fast, even on the NHL size rink. Some teams played a defensive style of hockey, trying to use the size to their advantage, and some played a wide open game.

Each had its share of success.

The battles in the corners and in front of the net were no less intense, and when Alexander Ovechkin hit Jaromir Jagr in the open ice, he was not jumped for the clean check.

Though there was the odd scuffle around the net, the minor raucous subsided within moments.

The Olympic hockey flowed and moved at a quick pace in part due to the lack of TV timeouts for beer commercials.

Indeed, most of us men and surely some of the women out there truly enjoy them, even if they are time consuming.

There was one really dirty hit that may have marred the level of sportsmanship that is expected from each player while representing their country at the Olympics.

Slovakia’s Lubos Bartecko was hit with a huge elbow—not specifically like the Patrice Cormier hit but with a similar result—from Norway’s Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.

The ejection for Tollefsen was immediate, and the teams continued playing after Bartecko was taken off on a stretcher.

Hockey is a tough sport.

Slovakia moved on, and Norway did not.

The players were all top quality, the best each country had to offer, though some may disagree with their respective GMs' choices perhaps.

Does the high quality of play in this tournament begin to point toward an NHL that is too watered down, in-turn leading to the need for the downsizing of the league?

Thus, it leaves fewer jobs for the bruisers of the league and eventually the extinction of the combatant only role and fighting in hockey period.

It’s quite possible that this Olympics may be the beginning of this.

With a number of its lower end teams having financial problems, should the NHL finally dissolve some of them and give a higher quality of substance to the league overall?

The KHL is stealing players away with the offer of a shorter season and a similar amount of money, if not more.

If the NHL were to collapse to 24 teams, would the cap not be able to be expanded without any monetary losses by either side? This would allow teams to pay and keep all of the top quality players throughout the world in the NHL, again improving their product as well as their profit margins.

It would be skill players playing against skill players. Yeah, the beer commercials would still be there, but the game would be: A) higher scoring, B) more exciting and faster paced, and C) hockey without the dangerous, pugilistic aspect.

I am certainly not saying I want to take any of the physicality out of the game because I don’t think that the NHL’s financial problems are completely due to fighting, but I do believe the talent level is watered down.

I have always been an advocate of fighting in the game, having played in a number of leagues since I was five-years-old, which was 35 years ago, and I have seen many changes in all those years since I began watching. Some  of them have been good, and some of them have been bad.

But after watching the skillfully-played Olympics and the higher scoring NHL fostered by new rule changes, I have begun to reassess.

I am as surprised, as anyone who knows me would be, to hear myself say this, but, “It may be time to take fighting out of the game.” Obviously with some adjustments.

Will this happen? It seems as though in time it may. We all know it comes up at general manager meetings on a regular basis, and after the excellent level of hockey at the Olympics and the ever growing KHL, it could be sooner rather than later.

There are certainly arguments for both sides when it comes to fighting in hockey, from within the fanbase, media, NHL board of governors, and players.

What the game of hockey will look like in 10 years is shrouded in question marks in my mind, but one thing I know for certain: I will be watching.

Catch Mark "The Hard Hitter" Ritter and I while we talk hockey on “Get the Puck Out” hockey show at www.MorencySports.com every Saturday between 6-7pm EST you can check out past shows at www.ustream.com you can also call in and voice your opinion during the show.