Fighting in professional sports typically draws severe penalties, game suspensions, and fines. Yet in hockey, it is a part of the game, with referees allowing the players to exchange punches until their exhaustion allows the referees to break them apart and send them to their respective penalty boxes. Fighting is used to ensure that no one takes unnecessary shots at highly skilled star players. Yet when a player chooses to fight at the Olympics, this crosses a line that is unacceptable.
Tom Wilson, the hulky 6’4”, 225 pound forward on the Canadian Olympic team, took offense when French defenseman Pierre Crinon raised his elbow a tad too high against Nathan MacKinnon’s head. Wilson proceeded to send a message, dropping his gloves against the Frenchman, who himself stands 6’5”, 225 pounds.
Crinon subsequently issued an apology to MacKinnon for his high elbow, which MacKinnon did not receive well, expressing his support and appreciation for Wilson’s actions. Fighting in professional hockey is ubiquitous. In the 2024-2025 season, there were 297 fights during the regular season, and just two during the entire playoffs. Over time, there has been a general downward trend on fighting, with teams focusing on skill and speed rather than brutality. Team enforcers still exist but must also offer some hockey skills to earn their playing time.
Some argue that enforcers keep teams honest, so star players are not physically abused by larger players. Yet the same objective can be achieved with how fighting is penalized. If a player instigates a fight, they should be assessed a multiple game suspension. Such zero tolerance infractions will send a message that fighting is no longer acceptable on the ice. Of course, hard legal hits can accomplish the same effect and send a clear message without any punches being thrown.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is filled with highly skilled smaller players. Alex Brincat, drafted 39th by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2016 NHL draft and now plays for the Detroit Red Wings, has amassed over 280 goals during his career, though he stands just 5’8”. Lane Hutson, the recent Calder Trophy winner for the Montreal Canadiennes, measures just 5’9” and 162 pounds. Both have found way to remain successful despite their diminutive statures.
If the NHL Player Association does not step up and support a zero-tolerance policy for fighting, they will continue to perpetuate a “bar room” atmosphere on the ice. Fans may enjoy it when two players known for fighting drop the gloves. Yet if anything like this happened on an NBA court or on a NFL football field, ejections, fines and suspensions would be ubiquitous. MLB also discourages on field brawls, and issues fines and suspensions, though it has been suggested that hockey-style fighting would offer some benefits. What is less discussed anytime fights break out is that all players involved place themselves and others at risk of injury, which are ubiquitous in all professional sports given the nature of the competition. Why increase such risks unnecessarily?
Men’s professional hockey is the only team sport that openly tolerates fighting. Women hockey players in the Women’s Professional Hockey League rarely fight, given that it is strictly prohibited. NCAA hockey players also rarely fight given the severe penalties that could jeopardize their participation and the atmosphere of sportsmanship that the NCAA works to foster. Fighting is just not part of their culture.
Watching Tom Wilson go after Pierre Crinon shone a poor light on the Canadian Olympic hockey team. He should be suspended for the remainder of the Olympics competition. He has proven himself to be a skilled player in the NHL. Translating his rough style of play into fighting on an international stage is simply unacceptable, and an embarrassment to all.