In the early days of hockey, and even into relatively recent history, fighting was seen as a badge of honor – a sort of accolade that some of the best fighters were proud to have. Think of the Broad Street Bullies of Philadelphia in the 1970s. Their enforcers set a precedent that it was normal to have at least one fight a game, with fights reaching an all-time high of 1.17 per game during the 1983-1984 season. It was normal for teams to sign bigger, less skilled players for the sole purpose of enforcing and retaliating for big hits on their more talented stars. It seems, however, that the heyday of hockey fights is far behind us, with the number of games involving a fight dropping to an all-time low of 200 in the 2018-2019 season.
This number is an extension of an overall trend, with fights per game consistently dropping since the 2007 season. Still, hockey remains the only sport of the big 4 that sees fights occur on a semi-regular basis. Despite the attitude of newer players who aren’t as inclined to get involved in fisticuffs on the ice, many still believe that there is some reason to allow for fights to happen on the biggest stage in the game.
Reasons for Fighting
Hockey is without a doubt one of the most physical sports that you can play. Even with the league moving towards a faster-paced, more skilled game that doesn’t rely on unnecessary physicality, there will always be big hits, dirty plays, and trash-talking. Inevitably, tempers will flare, and players will occasionally find themselves taking swings at their opponents. Football might be more physical on a per-play basis, but the faster pace of hockey leaves more room for players to get into it, especially because the whistle isn’t blown after every big hit.
Originally, players known as enforcers were signed in order to mitigate big hits on smaller, highly skilled players. If you knew you might be getting wiped out by somebody twice your size, you may think twice about using excessive force against a team’s superstar. Enforcers played a major role on many teams from the 70’s into the 2000’s, but by 2007 they started to be phased out, and it’s rare for a team these days to sign a player for the specific role of getting physical with the other team. While there will always be big hitters, hockey players must now possess hockey skills as well in order to be signed.
Fighting Etiquette
Although it may seem like an oxymoron, there is a certain code of ethics that players are encouraged to abide by when engaging in a hockey fight. Players must both agree to a fight if it is going to take place. Simply swinging at an opponent when he isn’t expecting it is seen as a cheap shot and can be met with an instigator penalty. Fighters are usually supposed to be of similar stature – an enforcer should not go after a smaller skill player but can retaliate against another large enforcer for a dirty hit.
Most importantly, players are taught to fight fairly and cleanly. That means removing the gloves and the helmets so as not to gain an unfair advantage. Fights should be more like boxing matches, and cheap hits and dirty tricks are discouraged. Once a fight is over, both players should get off the ice gracefully and leave the situation as it is. The fight is over and should be treated as such for the rest of the game.
Why the Sharp Decline?
The decline of fighting in recent years can be attributed to several factors. One prominent factor, however, is that the league is trying to minimize head injuries in any way possible. There are stricter penalties and even fines for going after someone’s head during a hit. This is in part due to more recent studies that show a direct correlation between concussions and various problems later in life, including CTE, depression, and premature death. As much as big hits and fighting may excite some fans and players, nobody wants to see a player’s career ended early because of unnecessary violence.
While the league is still a physical one, there has been an overall move toward creating a faster, skill-based game that doesn’t require as many big hits and take-outs in order to win. Teams are drafting players for their ability to play hockey – not their ability to fight. Certain teams that were slower to adapt to that trend found themselves out of the playoffs more often than not and realized that their strategies were no longer going to be successful with the way the current game is played.
The talent pool for the NHL has also been expanding beyond Canada and the US into Europe, where fighting rules have always been stricter. Players are coming overseas with a completely different skillset that isn’t based on beating your opponent into submission. Opponents and teammates alike have had to learn to adapt to this style and have seen firsthand that fighting is usually not the answer.
What the Future Holds
There are some old-school fans who pine for the days where they were pretty much guaranteed to see a fight break out if they went to a game. Much to their chagrin, it doesn’t seem like those days are going to return any time soon. As player safety becomes more prioritized and analytics show that fighting doesn’t help win games, we are likely to see fewer fights on the ice. It isn’t completely out of the question that fighting will be banned altogether at some point, but the league is likely to be content just letting it slow down rather than banning it outright.
While older generations may dislike the decline of fighting in the NHL, it is important to realize that this is a big step in keeping our young stars safe and helping players to be better role models for children. After all, the point is to score more goals than your opponent, not to encourage violence and knock them out.
All athletes have times when they feel completely defeated and unable to motivate themselves to go on. No matter how skilled or successful they are, the game can get the best of them and cause them to lose confidence. This is nothing new, but the best players know how to overcome these doubts and stay motivated in order to continue to develop as an athlete and maintain a certain level of success. While motivation from external factors such as other teammates and coaches can be helpful, it is self-motivation that is the most important in order to really keep going and improving. Read on below for some tips on how to motivate yourself to become a better player.
Set Goals
If you are simply going onto the ice every day with no endgame in mind, you will quickly become burnt out and unable to focus on the sport. It can start to feel like a chore rather than a game, and you will rapidly lose the desire to play. However, if you set personal goals, you can help yourself to stay motivated and become a better player. These goals can be as small as getting a certain amount of time on the ice for one game or as large as winning the league championship. In fact, it is best to have a variety of goals ranging from small to large.
Before every single game, maybe you want to commit to contributing to at least one goal for the team. It is better to create team goals, as you will become a better team player and give your group a better chance to win. This could mean that you want to make an assist or block a shot that leads to a great breakaway. Your goals can be more abstract too, and you might say that you want to encourage a player that has been having a rough time. Even if this isn’t a physical hockey goal, it is something that will help you get motivated to stay in the game and help others succeed.
Self-Talk
Sometimes, all you need is a little pep rally from your teammates. Team bonding can do a lot for the confidence of players, and encouragement from other people is huge in such a social sport. However, it shouldn’t be your only source of motivation. You must realize that most of your energy is going to come from within you and that you have to search yourself in order to harness it.
This is where stepping aside to be alone for a certain amount of time can be immensely helpful. Whether it is in the car before the game or simply on the bench as you tune others out, you must find some time before every game to get in tune with yourself. Talk to yourself, whether out loud or in your head, and go over the goals that you previously set. Give yourself some words of motivation, similar to what you might give another teammate when you are struggling. If it helps, feel free to look in a mirror and shout these words at yourself. You might look and feel a bit crazy, but if it makes you a better hockey player, then where’s the harm? Self-talk can be very beneficial in helping you sort out your thoughts and clear your mind, so you can better focus on the game at hand.
Embrace the Chaos
No matter how hard we work, there are always going to be certain things that are out of our control. When you’re off the ice, you can’t affect the game in the same way you could when you’re on it. If someone blindsides you, there probably wasn’t much that you could have done about it in the first place. It is important to understand that you can’t control everything that happens, and to embrace the chaos that comes as a part of hockey.
When you accept that you can’t do everything on your own, you will have a clearer understanding of your purpose on the ice. You may not be able to change everything, but you can change certain things, and you should focus on those so that you can contribute to the overall success of your team. You can make decisions that lead to better opportunities for your team, but you can’t make every single move, nor can you score every single goal. Learn to enjoy the game, even when you aren’t playing, and you’ll be more motivated to put forth your best effort when you are given the opportunity to change the outcome. When you can’t, be happy that your teammates are just as important as you.
Focus on the Positives
One of the reasons many people get stuck in a rut is because they continually play out a previous mistake in their mind. They wonder how they let it happen and constantly feel like they let their teammates down. This is no way to go through life, and it certainly won’t help you to become a better hockey player.
If you made a mistake, think about what you could’ve done to prevent it, and how you can execute better next time. Remember that if you succeed in the next game, nobody is going to remember about a gaffe from the last game. You could end up being the star of tomorrow’s game, but that will only happen if you are able to let go of your past mistakes.
Your teammates can give you positive energy, but you have to find most of it inside of yourself. Harness this energy and use it to improve your game the next time around. Think about the joy that will come if you score the game-winning goal or make a huge save at the end of the game. Don’t focus on what will happen if something goes wrong. People will forget the failures, but they will always remember the big successes, and they will want to join in on your happiness.
One of the major allures of becoming a professional athlete is the sheer amount of money that you can make if you become a superstar. Yes, playing your favorite game for a living at the highest level imaginable is certainly a perk, but the draw of the money is undeniable. We all know that NHL players make a comfortable living, but how much do they actually make? When you hear about a player signing for a specific salary, you aren’t getting the whole story. There are several things that happen behind the scenes that might tell a different story about how much money the player is really pulling in.
Escrow
The collective bargaining agreement for the NHL governs the finances for the entire league. In the NHL there is an escrow system, in which a portion of every player’s salary is withheld in order to meet the 50/50 revenue split that is required between players and team owners. Currently, the escrow withholding rate is 13.5% of a player’s total compensation – this includes salary, signing bonuses, and assumed performance incentives. If a player does not qualify for these performance bonuses, they are issued a refund at the end of the next season.
Escrow exists to ensure that the NHL remains profitable while being able to pay the salaries of all the players in the league. In the event that the league was unprofitable, the escrow pool would be used to cover the shortfalls.
Taxes
Professional athletes are generally placed in the highest tax brackets due to how much they make, and they are subject to even more taxes than many of us. They must pay a “jock tax” to every city and state in which they play, whether they are a visitor or not. In many cases, a player may be paying a 50% income tax rate, or slightly higher, meaning that with a salary of $10 million, they are paying over $5 million in taxes when adding jock and income taxes together.
This, of course, will depend on which team they play for, as different states have different income tax laws. Canada in general has higher tax rates, so a player for the Canadiens may pay a 53% income tax rate while someone on the Lightning will only pay about 40% because of Florida’s lower income tax rate. This is often taken into consideration when players are negotiating contracts with potential new teams. It becomes even more complex in trade situation when one team is picking up a portion of the salary, as now each part of a player’s pay will be subject to different tax laws.
Agent Fees
Every player has an agent that helps them to negotiate salaries, incentives, and so on. These agents don’t work for free, of course, and are paid based on the salaries that they negotiate for their clients. In general, agent fees are about 3-5% of a player’s salary. They aren’t taken directly from the paycheck, but the player pays the agent out of their take-home cash, thus diminishing how much they are actually putting in their bank accounts. You can see why agents are so adamant about getting the highest salary for their clients!
NHLPA Union Dues
The NHLPA, or National Hockey League Players’ Association, is the union representing the interests of every player in the league. Any person on an NHL roster is required to be a member of the NHLPA. The association helps players negotiate salaries and employment conditions, as well as assisting them with licensing and any grievances they may have against current or former teams.
Like any labor union, the players must pay fees in order to benefit from the services of the NHLPA. Currently, the dues are $30 per day during the season. This isn’t much considering the salaries of professional hockey players, but it still adds up to a hefty chunk of change that the player won’t receive throughout the year.
Summer Training and Extracurricular Fitness
While the team will provide training and physical therapy during the season, they don’t always offer as comprehensive of a package during the off season. Many players take it upon themselves to pay for their own training programs to ensure that they can maintain peak physical fitness without losing a step.
On top of this, players will often make sure that they have a top-of-the-line workout facility in their own home. These facilities can cost thousands of dollars just for equipment and are even more expensive when you consider the maintenance required to keep them functioning effectively.
While this is often up to the player and doesn’t automatically come out of their paycheck, it is still a significant expense to consider when negotiating a salary. Not being able to stay in shape in the off season can be detrimental to a player’s overall performance during the season, meaning that they may not play well enough to get a better contract when theirs expires. It’s one of the many hidden costs that you may not think about when considering how much a player really makes.
Conclusion
NHL players certainly aren’t hurting for money. With a minimum salary of $700,000 for the 2019-2020 season, they are some of the highest paid people in the world and should be set for life if they manage their money correctly.
Still, it is important to recognize that when you hear that a certain player signed a new deal, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than you may think. If a superstar signs a $10 million dollar per year contract, they will likely be bringing in less than half of that after all is said and done. There are a variety of factors that affect the final numbers, but players need to realize that what you see isn’t always what you get, and they must plan for their future accordingly.
Had an opportunity to chat with @SNJeffBlair & @richarddeitsch from FAN590 a few days ago, about the Decline of the Slap Shot in the NHL.
Some interesting observations from everyone about where the slap shot has gone, why NHL players aren’t using it as much and if it will ever become popular again.
A major barrier for many hockey players is access to a proper facility for training.
For some, especially those in warmer areas, synthetic ice has been a life saver. Synthetic ice can be used in regions with warm climates where maintaining a real ice rink would be very expensive and sometimes nearly impossible. Many places in North America however actually opt to use synthetic ice for training as an alternative option as well. It is generally made of high-density polyethylene, and it does a decent job of emulating the feel of real ice. If you’ve never tried it before, or are thinking about training on it one day, here are a few things you should know.
Resistance
There is a significantly larger amount of friction when skating on synthetic ice, meaning that even the strongest skaters will experience more resistance than they would on natural ice. This is largely due to the physical properties of the materials used but can also be attributed to the fact that synthetic ice does not melt with the skate blade like natural ice does. When the blade grazes real ice, it heats the top layer enough to produce a small amount of water. This makes for a more slippery surface and reduces resistance as a player skates around. There are liquids that can be used with synthetic ice, but they don’t reduce drag as much as this effect does on real ice.
This higher resistance on synthetic ice can actually be a positive thing for new skaters allowing them to get a better feel and can act as a stepping-stone to playing on real ice.
For more experienced skaters, it offers resistance training and the extra effort required to skate can build muscle and strength that should translate to higher speed and durability on real ice.
Shooting
Because of the higher resistance that comes with synthetic ice, shooting will also feel different. A slapshot with the same force will not travel as far or as fast on synthetic ice. Competitive players may see this as a negative quality of the artificial surface. But in a similar fashion to resistance training, it can help players to develop a stronger, more accurate shot as they go up against an obstacle that they don’t normally experience on real ice. And for those who don’t have easy access to an ice rink, shooting on synthetic ice is a good alternative option.
Feeling
Synthetic ice certainly provides a more realistic feel than, say, inline skates, but that doesn’t mean it does a perfect job of mimicking real ice. As we’ve touched on, the resistance alone is enough to let one know that he or she is not skating on a natural rink. Although a skater can build up speed and get a strong glide going, the response of the synthetic ice just isn’t quite the same as that of real ice, but when used for training, can be very useful & economical.
Effect on Skates
Although advances have been made with material technology, synthetic ice still wears down skate blades significantly faster than real ice. This, again, is due to the additional friction as well as the properties of the materials that are simply more abrasive to any type of skate. This means that you may need to get your skates sharpened and even replace the blades more often, if you are skating on synthetic ice regularly. Fortunately, newer materials continue to reduce the damage done to skate blades, and the hope is that in the future it will be almost as good as real ice when it comes to minimizing this damage. Self-lubricating materials are also becoming more widely available and this goes a long way in helping with this.
Conclusion
Hockey was clearly designed to be played on real ice, and it doesn’t seem that synthetic ice will be replacing natural ice at any point in the near future. It simply doesn’t provide the response, speed, or feeling that one can get from a real ice rink. However, for practice and training it has some positive advantages.
Novice players may benefit from the slower movement of synthetic ice as they become more familiar with their center of balance and shooting abilities, while experienced players can use the extra resistance to help build more muscle and speed.
Players in warm weather regions can use synthetic ice year-round without having to pay large amounts or travel long distances just to work on their hockey skills.
So, while real ice will always be king, when it comes to training, there is certainly a time and a place for a quality synthetic ice!
