[Doctor 2Brains]

Okay, I don’t know hockey at all, but is “enforcer” a real position like middle linebacker? Or do they call you that if you get in fights? Don’t they all get in fights? What up?

[Wolfie]

They all can get into fights, but a select few on each team are the designated fighters in that it's the only real skill they bring to the game. They're basically there to beat the snot out of anybody who messes with a skill player.

[Moose4]

There are some guys who are out there more for their fists than their puck-handling. The “enforcers” are there so that if somebody tries to rough up one of the team’s more skilled players, they respond. They’re there to either intimidate or defend, whatever’s needed.

}:-)4

[Pompah]

The old saying goes; “ If you can’t beat’um in the alley, you can’t beat;um on the ice.”
Thus all teams in the NHL carry an “Enforcer” on the bench.

Sometimes a couple of them.

[buccaneer81]

Don’t they all get in fights?

Are you kidding? Can you imagine Wayne Gretzky in a fight?

[frithguild]

An enforcer does not only protect the skill players through intimidation. Hockey is a game of emotion. If yeor teamate just pummels an opposint player, for good reason, everybody has an extra jump in their skates. The momentum of a game, and the outcome, can change on a dime, all bucause of a good scrap.