An Analysis of Fights in the National Hockey League

Abstract

The authors use data from fight logs during the 2016-2017 regular National Hockey League (NHL) season to test for a difference in the proportion of games with and without fights for each of the thirty NHL teams. Only one team (Toronto Maple Leafs) was more likely to be involved in a fight at a home game than at an away game. Teams that fought proportionally more often in the second half of the season made the playoffs; teams that fought significantly less often did not. And, long distance air travel (flights involving more than 1000 miles or trips that required crossing at least one time zone) resulted in disproportionately more games with fights for eight different NHL teams.

Tooth for a tooth: Does fighting serve as a deterrent to greater violence in the modern NHL

“…Studies have examined a range of questions relevant to coaches and general managers, such as whether fighting affords teams a tactical advantage and is related to better game outcomes [ 6 ]. Others have explored league and ownership incentives to maintain support for fighting in the face of increasing understanding about the impact of head injuries [ 7 – 9 ], incentives for individual players to fight more [ 6 ], the conditions under which fights are more likely to occur [ 7 , 10 ], and ethics of fighting [ 11 ]. DeAngelo, Humphries, and Reimers [ 12 ] use data from an earlier era in the NHL to examine the effect of fights and officiating on body checking.…”