Brassard had the right idea when he started off by skating backwards away from the fight.

What was there even worth fighting about? There goes one Calder candidate.

Somewhere within Brassard’s head is a John Updike short story exploring what exactly possessed him to take offense to that hit, and to enter that fight.

I have to say that this could open the door to a possible Calder Trophy for the Blues’ Patrik Berglund.

Once, this season, the Washington Capitals received a rare nine-minute power play after the Flames’ Bourque jumped defenceman Tyler Sloan, who’d just laid out Daymond Langkow with a big hit.

I’m really tired of this new trend of trying to pick a fight anytime a clean hit is thrown (it’s like the rock-em-sock-em boys are trying to take bodychecking out of the game). If the Flames are too wimpy to take a hit like a man, they’d better call off Phaneuf.

Not to single anyone out – it’s happening all over – but it just seemed particularly hypocritical.

It really makes you wonder just how much sense it makes to have players police one another.

It makes NO sense to have players police one another. Here’s why in 3 simple steps

(1) It doesn’t have any deterrent effect. Players don’t play in fear of any other players.
(2) Its not productive. A player who tries to act as a “policeman” for his team just incites the other team to respond in kind, because then that other team’s policeman has to step in.
(3) Policemen are less and less able to police the right things. We see more and more people jumping people who threw legitimate hits. The game moves too fast to allow players to make these split second decisions. The NHL is better equipped to dole out “justice” if warranted.

Let’s be honest when we’re talking about fighting – the league likes it cause it gets fans out of their seats. It seems it would rather risk a few injuries from fights than be seen an doing anything to remove it from the game and angering its fans.