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editorial

Anaheim Ducks' Patrick Maroon, left, fights with San Jose Sharks' Frazer McLaren during the third period of an NHL preseason hockey game on Saturday.Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press

Consider the hockey goon. Do it quickly, before it's too late.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday – the game that is the annual season opener for the National Hockey League – neither team had a designated fighter on the roster. It was the first time that has happened in recent memory.

The enforcer has fallen out of vogue, mercifully for the men on whom the job has exacted a steep toll – former Canadiens tough guy Todd Ewen, who died last month, being the most recent human tragedy.

The demise of the goon will make some fans angry; the depth of their feeling will be in direct proportion to how many Don Cherry's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Hockey videos they own.

But the existential argument over whether Wayne Gretzky would have been possible without Dave Semenko, his protector, appears to have swung decisively in favour of the pacifists.

There are exceptions, including Gretzky's former club in Edmonton, which is keeping Luke Gazdic around to "look after" 18-year-old phenom Connor McDavid. John Scott, who may eventually be remembered as the NHL's last uni-dimensional face-puncher, clings to a roster spot in Phoenix, for now.

According to hockeyfights.com, a website that celebrates the tougher side of the sport, the incidence of glove-shedding in the NHL is at its lowest ebb in 15 years. The number of games featuring fights has dropped to early-1970s levels.

Here's hoping it dips further this year.

As ever, the problem is one of enforcement – no sport is as insistently lax at following its own rulebook. You don't see baseball players cuffing the other team's first baseman without swift consequence. Fighting gets you booted in every other major sport.

It is also officially against the NHL's rules, but even if you accept the "safety valve" argument – NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's stock phrase – it only applies if the referees don't do their job.

In the end, litigation – in the form of a lawsuit filed by former players suffering the long-term effects of concussions – and the NHL's salary cap will do the job where moral condemnation failed.

As it defends itself against the suit, the NHL is showing signs of getting serious about dealing with its concussion problem. The league suspended San Jose's Raffi Torres for 41 games this week for a dirty preseason hit that targeted an opponent's head.

But if players are still allowed to punch each other in the head during prolonged, staged fights, what's the point? It is hypocritical to express concern for concussions on the one hand, and allow fighting on the other.

The requiem for hockey's heavyweights will sound like a lament to some ears. It shouldn't. It's the right thing to do.

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