“What kind of legitimate sport has “enforcers” — whose mission is to engage other “enforcers” in the sort of activity that would get regular people arrested if they did it outside of a bar?”
I agree about the enforcers. It’s too bad they have to have them. The fact remains however that watching Zetterberg and Datsyuk work together is like watching poetry in motion and I believe you are missing a good game if you cannot stomach a few rumbles. What I hate is when the enforcers target the skill players and try to take them out.
The Wings had to sign guys who could protect them.
Of course back in the day enforcers didn’t fight enforcers, enforcers fought cheap shot artists. That’s why they got the name “enforce” they enforced the rules when the refs missed a call, you cheap shot our star on one shift you can pretty much guarantee that some time soon our enforcer would be on the ice with you and the gloves would come off. Then came the instigator rule, which basically outlawed fighting an unwilling opponent, making it so that in order to avoid major suspensions both fighters pretty much have to drop the gloves at the same time. Of course cheap shot guys never drop the gloves, so enforcers have to fight enforcers, and cheap shotters have nothing to fear. Thus the level of cheap shots climbs and the number of fights drop.