The two featured combatants, New York’s Matt Rempe and New Jersey’s Kurtis MacDermid, brought their tete a tete to an end at center ice, both still steady on their feet as they tugged and punched, agreeing to walk away once a linesman intervened.
That’s a line brawl? Shrug shoulders and walk away. Really. Get me Dave “The Hammer” Schultz on Line 1, stat! John Wensink, I’m patching you through to Mr. Schultz right now.
The greatest hit of the night was inflicted by the referees, who summarily sent eight of the 10 starting skaters to the showers, each dismissed for being accessories to the punch-up. The two guys who started it all right off the puck drop, ex-Bruin Curtis Lazar and former Hobey Baker Award winner Jimmy Vesey, were allowed to stay in the game, once serving their five-minute fighting majors.
Underneath it all, the one redeeming virtue to be gleaned was that it showed the animosity that can be generated among divisional rivals. The league needs more of that, way more, albeit without the circus act haymakers and histrionics.
The 2024 Devils and Rangers dislike one another, a hate generated in two prior meetings this season when Rempe, the 6-foot-7-inch rookie brawler, knocked a couple of Devils (Jonas Siegenthaler and Nathan Bastian) out of the lineup with dirty hits.
One of those hits left Siegenthaler with a concussion and led to the rambunctious Rempe getting suspended for four games — when he had all of 10 games on his NHL résumé. His two seconds on the ice Wednesday brought his league experience to 14 games, 76:04 TOI, and 69 penalty minutes. Take it away, advanced stats geeks.
Those earlier hits by Rempe served as the table-setters for what happened Wednesday night, with Lazar undoubtedly instructed by Devils coach Travis Green to start the party with his tussle against the Harvard-trained Vesey. Once those two were occupied, as Green no doubt calculated, it opened the door for MacDermid, a hired gun brought in from Colorado just prior to the trade deadline, to “have a dance” with Rempe.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette would have seen the Devils’ starting lineup, noted Green’s strategy, and accommodated him by putting Rempe on the ice. Old school tit for tat. Just not sure why Laviolette also rolled out top defensemen Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller, who were among the eight who saw their night’s work end with two seconds on ice.
Such red-meat-for-the-masses incidents are rare in today’s NHL, thankfully. For some 30 years, the league has clamped down on fighting and all but eliminated the nonsense. Yet, not enough has been done. The league needs to take one last step.
The fact that a latter-day line brawl can happen, and that isolated one-on-one fights remain tolerated, if not glorified, reflects the owners’ insecurity in their business model.
The Lords of the Boards still believe they need fighting and violence to sell their game, even after the most recent expansion franchise (Seattle) went for $650 million. They’re still working with the remnants of an Original Six marketing model that held fans in New York, Boston, Detroit, and Chicago didn’t know the “Canadian” game well enough to appreciate the shooting, skating, checking, speed, danger, and daring, all the things that most fans today across North America fully embrace as the night’s entertainment. Owners of the leather-and-wood era felt violence was a surefire way to put paying customers in seats.
The giant video screen above center ice at MSG featured isolated looks at the mayhem Wednesday, its cameras darting from fight to fight, with Rangers fans chanting, “Rempe! Rempe! Rempe!” as the big lug punched and reloaded. That’s some in-game marketing right there. If anyone believed the league had a sincere interest in finally putting a stop to it, it would tell its 32 franchises to fade their jumbo screens to black, rather than focus in tighter, once the gloves go down.
As noted here in recent weeks, there is also the growing belief that punches to the head possibly act as an accelerant for CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the progressive neurodegenerative disease. The family of the late Chris Simon, the onetime fearless forward for a number of NHL teams, believes CTE led to his recent suicide. The family of late defenseman Bob Murdoch days after Simon’s death revealed that an autopsy showed Murdoch had Stage 3 CTE when he died last summer.
Undeniably, the game is at its best when player emotions turn to lava. We’re about to see that yet again in a couple weeks when the Stanley Cup playoffs start and 16 teams step into the best-of-seven emotional volcano. The win-or-go-home framing of the postseason guarantees the heat, though rarely leads to fighting in today’s era.
The NHL needs more of that emotion in the regular season and can achieve it by returning to a more divisional-based schedule across the 82 games, something akin to the Bruins’ old Adams Division days.
At the same time, it can take the final step, one more than a century in the making, and impose penalties, including lengthy suspensions, that finally will eradicate fighting. Let the MSG clown show serve as its final act.
All it takes is some courage by commissioner Gary Bettman and his 32 bosses, who continue to make bank on a broken, early-20th-century business model that appears to put some players at risk for horrible post-career health consequences. The cowardly owners risk nothing by letting it go.
HART THROBS
Trio in contention for MVP honors
Take your pick for the Hart Trophy (MVP) winner: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche), Nikita Kucherov (Lightning), or Connor McDavid (Oilers). Can’t go wrong with any of them, but your faithful puck chronicler would go with the mesmerizing McDavid, who would be the first back-to-back winner since Alex Ovechkin (2008 and ‘09).
When the Bruins visited the Oilers in February, McDavid’s performance that night (a fairly pedestrian 0-2–2/four shots on net) left Scott Bradley, longtime scout and senior adviser to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, shaking his head.
“Who does he make you think of?” said an admiring Bradley, whose father, Bart, convinced then-GM Harry Sinden to trade for Cam Neely. “I mean, every shift, only one other guy, [Bobby] Orr, right? Amazing.”
Adding to McDavid’s bona fides this season is the fact that he gathered a club that went 3-9-1 before a coaching change (Kris Knoblauch taking over for Jay Woodcroft) and rocketed it up the standings from also-ran status to solid Stanley Cup contender. It’s looking like the Oilers could face the defending champion Golden Knights in Round 1.
MacKinnon recently overtook David Pastrnak as the league’s top volume shooter for the season. He also has established career highs in goals, assists, and points. Like McDavid, he is fast and intense, especially in attacking the net, and will gain some votes simply because it would be his first Hart.
Still, a slight edge here to McDavid (a three-time winner) over MacKinnon because the Avalanche have a more complete roster, including crown jewel Cale Makar on defense. The award is for the player considered most valuable to his team.
The dynamic Kucherov, the Hart winner in 2019, entering Friday led the league lead in scoring and had set personal bests in goals, assists, and points. He’s a more selective (i.e. less frequent) shooter than MacKinnon and Pastrnak, but he’s lightning quick with his shots and has that Brett Hull-like knack for popping up out of nowhere to deliver. Though a feared scorer, his overall game isn’t as broad or demanding as that of MacKinnon or McDavid.
Solid Hart cases can be made for Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes and Makar, but a defenseman hasn’t won the Hart since Chris Pronger (Blues) in 2000. He was the first since Orr in 1972. Voters typically, though unfairly, designate the Hart to a forward, in part because there isn’t a Norris-like trophy solely for the top-performing forward. Selecting a defenseman as the Hart winner virtually guarantees he also takes home the Norris.
All these years later, it’s increasingly mind-numbing that Ray Bourque never won the Hart in his prime seasons with the Bruins. He was a deserving pick in three or four seasons.
The last Bruin to win the Hart? Phil Esposito in 1974, after his 68-77–145 season. Jumbo Joe Thornton won it in 2006, playing 23 games in Black and Gold before being dealt to San Jose.
ETC.
Not many coaches left on firing line
It’s that time of the season when the hockey cognoscenti cobble together the list of coaches most likely to be canned in the coming weeks, perhaps even prior to the April 20 start of the postseason.
Truth is, it’s a very short list, given that seven coaches were shown the door during the season, and that doesn’t count Mike Babcock, who resigned his post with the Blue Jackets some 10 weeks after he was hired to be their coach.
Fair or not, former Boston University defenseman David Quinn, his Sharks bottom of the ocean in the league’s overall standings, has to be considered on the hot seat. With new GM Mike Grier in charge, they’ve been in rebuild mode since before Grier hired Quinn prior to last season.
As promised, Grier has gone about deconstructing the roster, which has left Quinn, 57, with fewer tools than when he arrived, when he had the likes of Erik Karlsson, Timo Meier, and Tomas Hertl on hand. Maybe better days are coming for the Sharks, but Quinn wouldn’t be the first coach to suffer the consequences of a franchise that has shaved the roster like a Zamboni shaves ice.
Columbus, yet to hire a GM to replace Jarmo Kekalainen, cannot be expected to keep Pascal Vincent as bench boss. He, too, didn’t have much of a roster to work with and things only became bleaker when winger Patrik Laine exited months ago for treatment in the Player Assistance Program. Earlier this month, Laine put his $2.75 million downtown condo (with Murphy bed in office for possible third bedroom) up for sale. Looks like he is planning a new start, though he has two years left on his deal (cap hit: $8.7 million). Any takers?
Of the seven in-season changes, the Oilers acted the fastest and received the best results. Headed into weekend play, Kris Knoblauch was 42-15-4, with a points percentage (.721) higher than any of the other 31 teams.
Below, a list of the seven teams that turfed their coaches and how their replacements have fared:
Edmonton
Fired: Jay Woodcroft (3-9-1, .269).
Hired: Knoblauch (42-15-4, .721).
Oilers on verge of securing playoff berth, likely to face Vegas in Round 1.
Los Angeles
Fired: Todd McLellan (23-15-10, .583)
Hired: Jim Hiller (17-10-1, .625)
Slight improvement, looks like the Kings will hold on to a wild-card spot.
Minnesota
Fired: Dean Evason (5-10-4, .368)
Hired: John Hynes (31-20-5, .598)
Solid turnaround under former BU player Hynes, but likely to finish south of the cutline.
New Jersey
Fired: Lindy Ruff (30-27-4, .525)
Hired: Travis Green (6-9-0, .400)
GM Tom Fitzgerald made late change, but Green unable to provide spark.
New York Islanders
Fired: Lane Lambert (19-15-11, .544)
Hired: Patrick Roy (15-12-4, .548)
Initial pop under St. Patrick, but pretty much the same Islanders. Held No. 2 wild card entering Friday.
Ottawa
Fired: D.J. Smith (11-15-0, .423)
Hired: Jacques Martin (22-23-4, .490)
A season to forget. Martin interim choice. New coach (John Gruden?) to be named.
St. Louis
Fired: Craig Berube (13-14-1, .482)
Hired: Drew Bannister (27-18-3, .594)
Bannister woke ‘em up, but it looks like it was too late to clinch a playoff spot.
Loose pucks
Interesting times in Pittsburgh, where it appears the Penguins will miss the cut for a second year in a row — a first in the long and glorious Sidney Crosby era. Crosby’s contract ends after next season, just before he turns 38. Does he re-up with the Flightless Birds? Longtime NHL insider Pierre McGuire says to keep an eye on the Avalanche, specifically because Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon are best pals tracing back to their Nova Scotia days. The Avalanche would be a tour de force with Crosby, MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen on the roster, backed by the unparalleled Cale Makar. Although, keep in mind: Rantanen ($9.25 million cap hit) is on target to become a UFA the same day as Crosby. It’s difficult to envision Crosby playing for anyone other than the Penguins. They’re part of his brand, woven into his championship profile the way it was with the Celtics and Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, et al. But it’s equally difficult to imagine a sweeter potential setup for No. 87 than the one in Denver . . . A few Bruins stats to ponder: They are 25-6-5 (.764) when David Pastrnak scores a goal, 21-1-3 (.900) when one of their defensemen scores a goal, and 8-0-1 (.944) when Charlie McAvoy is one of those defensemen . . . The league record for the most game misconducts handed out around one fight event: 16, a mark established twice, both times with the Flyers (shock!) co-practitioners of the sweet science. The Kings and Broad Streeters marched 16 to the showers March 11, 1979, when a donnybrook broke out at the end of the first period. Less than a year later, Feb. 22, 1980, a Flyers-Canucks melee at 14:30 of the third again led to the referee giving the gate to 16 combatants. Total PIMs for the two games: 724 . . . The second of those slugfests came the same day Mike Eruzione and Team USA pinned a 4-3 defeat on Viktor Tikhonov’s vaunted Soviet Union stick carriers at Lake Placid, N.Y., en route to capturing the Olympic gold medal. Please note: The latter of those two Feb. 22 events was the most powerful punch to the gut ever delivered on the ice.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
