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Poll: Does fighting still belong in the NHL?

George Parros

George Parros’s time in the hospital may be over, but the fighting debate sure isn’t. Not surprisingly, there are passionate calls for the NHL to take action following last night’s incident in Montreal.

Writes Sportsnet’s Michael Grange:

The discussion on head injuries across sports should make banning the one element of hockey where the goal is to hit people in the head a relatively easy sell. As it is, fighting has increasingly pushed to the margins for years, even though NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has never given a hint of being interested in leading the charge.

But now it needs to go not only because of what happens when big men punch each other in the face, but also what can happen entirely by accident.

Common sense will prevail and one day fighting will be gone, the question is: Will we be celebrating, or will we be mourning the last casualty before the ceasefire?

Bettman, by the way, recently told CBC’s Peter Mansbridge (video) that fighting is “part of the game” (though he did leave the door open for that to change in the future), and also suggested it’s the players who’ve been most supportive of keeping the current fighting rules in place.

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Bonus poll:

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