Hockey Players' Demand Slopes Down for Brawls

Jim Kelley at SI writes:

No sport can legislate all infractions out of its game. Even the NFL, a violent league that doesn't allow fighting, will see the occasional fist flying in the so-called "heat of the battle." But that's a far cry from the NHL's current approach to fighting, and Campbell, as well as several forward-thinking GMs, want the league to at least address some of their concerns
...
"The biggest thing with our sport is you look at the other major sports -- football, basketball, baseball -- you're ejected from the game for fighting. We've had a different culture, history and tradition . . . I think we should revisit it, because of what happened with that young player in Ontario."
...
It has proved to all who care to take notice that the rule of law can prevail in a hockey game, a notion proven time and time again by an absence of fighting in the playoffs and in seemingly every game where the importance of winning trumps the short-lived advantage that sometimes comes about when two players "mix it up."

Incentives matter.