While many hockey leagues all over the world have seen fighting numbers drop significantly in the last few years, it still remains a major part of the action in the ECHL, a mid-level professional ice hockey league with teams scattered across the United States and two franchises in Canada. It looks like the league is attempting to change that, though. New rules being enforced in the ECHL this season will hand out suspensions to players who accumulate fighting majors.
The announcement from the league states that when players reach 10 fighting majors in a season, they are suspended for one game. Each subsequent fighting major will be a one game suspension. At 14 fighting majors the suspension becomes two games. That may seem like a lot of fighting majors before suspensions kick in, but the ECHL notes that 18 players had 10+ fighting majors in the 2019-2019 season, with three players totaling 17 fighting majors apiece.
This will, no doubt, bring some backlash from fans lamenting the death of "old-time hockey", which is plainly evidenced by the responses to the Tweet announcing the new rules by the ECHL Stats Twitter account. However, this seems to be the way most, if not all, leagues are going giving increased concerns over concussions and their lasting impacts ( CTE being one of the major ones). We'll have to wait and see whether these news rules have any negative effects on attendance at ECHL games.
The ECHL and the AHL are the only minor leagues recognized by the collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, meaning any player signed to an entry-level NHL contract and designated for assignment must report to a club in either the ECHL or the AHL.
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