What is the future of fighting in hockey?
The long-debated question came up again last week with the news that the QMJHL would be “banning” fighting starting in the 2023-24 season.
“At the member assembly last Feb. 23, the member assembly endorsed a ban on fighting,” Richard Letourneau, president of the QMJHL’s board of members. “So, yes, fights are banned, now there are some terms left to finalize. Indeed, we have an expanded hockey committee formed of (league directors) to figure out how to apply this rule, get it accepted by the minister, and get it all endorsed by the member assembly in June.”
As for what a ban on fighting really means is to be determined. This rule change was discussed at a press conference last week introducing the QMJHL’s new commissioner, Mario Cecchini, who said he intended to meet with Quebec sports minister Isabelle Charest on the topic. Cecchini noted there would be discussions on just what the punishment would be for fighters, but acknowledged it needed to be “severe.”
Whatever they decide, the QMJHL anticipates making a public announcement in June.
Neither the OHL or WHL has announced plans to further discipline fighting, though the OHL has tried to curb it before. In 2012, the OHL introduced a 10-fight limit before a player would get a two-game suspension, and lowered the threshold to three games ahead of the 2016-17 season. The WHL, like the OHL, has tried to curb “staged fights” by ejecting players who drop the gloves immediately after a faceoff.
Fighting’s involvement in the game is different across the three CHL leagues. Here you can see how many fighting majors total, and per game, have been handed out in the WHL, OHL and QMJHL (and how it compares to the NHL) over the past five years. Note that the QMJHL’s quick drop in 2020-21 coincides with a rule change ahead of that season, where a fighting major also came with a 10-minute misconduct, and a suspension would follow your third fight of the season.