Enforcers: a dying breed of hockey player

About 30 years ago, you could tune into any Los Angeles Kings game, and you’d probably be guaranteed to see two things: Wayne Gretzky stickhandle his way through defenders in an amazing display of talent and Marty McSorley beating down on some guy for committing any number of violations against Number 99. Fast forward ten years. Switch on any Colorado Avalanche game, and you’d see a similar scenario played out, this time with Scott Parker playing McSorley to Joe Sakic’s Gretzky.

This was part of the game back then. In a world where clutch and grab defensemen ruled the blueline, and the success of organizations like Philly’s Broad Street Bullies was fresh on the mind, hockey needed that kind of self-policing. Cheap shots seemed more prevalent, and referees seemed less vigilant, opting for a “let them play” approach. Hockey, in general, felt more raw than what we see now.

Today, the game is built more on speed and skill. Players no longer have the luxury of being a pure specialist. A player can’t just be a sniper or a shut-down defenseman; he must be able to play 200 feet of ice. Teams cannot afford to employ guys whose only purpose in the game warrants two to three minutes of playing time. Real estate is too valuable in today’s high-tempo, scoring-centric game. Rather than having a player who ends up spending more time sitting in the box for a fight than on the ice, teams need someone who can generate possession.

An oft-heard counterargument to the idea that hockey is losing its need for enforcers is that enforcing still needs to happen. Star players are still targeted by the opposition, and the best way to deter such behavior is by having a heavyweight ready to punish anyone dumb enough to take liberties with his guy. The Code, they say, is still a vital part of the game.

But Colorado fans, more than anyone, should know the devastating consequences of The Code. While it would be gratifying to watch Patrick Bordeleau pummel Matt Cooke for Cooke’s purposeful knee-on-knee shot that took Tyson Barrie out of the playoffs in 2014, the image of Steve Moore being taken off the ice on a stretcher should give everyone pause. Is headhunting worth it?

Hockey today is in that stage just before dawn: light is seeping over the horizon, but night is still clinging on. A new way of playing the game is taking over the choices coaches make, but the shadows of hockey enforcement still remain. For many hockey purists, the move away from on-ice sheriffs is a mistake. But does the game really have any other choice?

It’s a different beast than it was back in those nights in the Great Western Forum where McSorley would destroy anyone for even looking at Gretzky the wrong way. Today, you have to have guys like Gabriel Landeskog and Jarome Iginla, players who can just as soon power their way to the net against the opposition’s top line as drop the mitts to defend themselves.

So if this is the case—if the enforcer is going extinct—how did we get here? Part of this has much to do with a purposeful shift in the game by the league. The development of penalties for things like instigating or removing a helmet for a fight automatically make The Code a challenging system to employ. Fights tend to be staged, coming right after the puck drops on a face off, rather than an authentic reaction to an objectionable play.

That’s not the only reason for the change, though. Perhaps an even bigger factor, the game itself has developed. Rules established to promote scoring have altered the way in which teams, coaches, and players approach the game. Players have also become much better. The advances in goaltending alone forced players to improve their offensive weaponry. Increased speeds necessitated that players become tougher and bigger, even when in a top-six role. New developments in medicine have established a clear link between head trauma from fights and neurodegenerative disease. These changes are pushing out the guys who can bring the pain but not much else.

It’s heartbreaking, really. The lunch pail, blue collar players like Cody McLeod and Patrick Bordeleau are always fan favorites and for good reason. They literally bleed for hockey, for their team, and even for us. Sadly, their role in today’s hockey is dwindling, and it’s getting harder to justify giving these guys ice time when you have a player who can put pucks in the net wasting his time and talent in the AHL.

Like anything does, hockey is evolving, and the game it’s becoming has little room for the enforcer. It will still take some time before the role is completely gone from the game, but it’s a foregone conclusion. A breed of hockey player is dying out, whether we want it to or not.