The boys are fighting.
According to the NHL, there's been an uptick in on-ice fisticuffs this season. Through 120 games, there were 34 games with one or more fights. That's up over last season (25) and the 2024-25 season (26).
"Definitely way more fights," one NHL veteran player told ESPN. "Way more physicality and competitiveness. Which I think is great for the league, because it's something that sets the NHL apart from all the other major sports leagues."
This is true. I'm not sure how many people tuned into NBA opening night to see if LeBron was going to throw hands with Karl-Anthony Towns to make an impression on his new teammates in Philly. The NHL's biggest stars will, however, punch people in the face.
Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche led the NHL with 53 goals last season and was second in ESPN's top 100 player ranking for this season. Last Tuesday, he sat in the Colorado dressing room with stitches across his bloody nose and a throbbing bruise under his left eye after a fight with Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz.
"That was crazy," said Matt Rempe of the New York Rangers, a noted pugilist that was in awe of MacKinnon-Hintz I. "They were both just chucking there, they were both just throwing bombs. Two skilled guys who were throwing, so it was pretty awesome."
It was MacKinnon's second fight of the season, having previously traded blows with Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke.
"The way we all grow up in the Maritimes is pretty gritty, Most guys from that area are feisty. I think it's good to do it sometimes. I might be done for the year, but I guess you never know," MacKinnon said after his second bout. "Getting punched is not that fun. But the guys seemed to like it, so maybe I'll do it a couple more times."
ESPN analyst Erik Johnson played with MacKinnon for 11 seasons and won the Stanley Cup with him in 2022.
"I'm actually surprised he doesn't fight more. He's so intense and he'd be the first to admit he has a screw loose. When that screw wiggles loose, you don't want to be in his path," Johnson said.
As Johnson noted, MacKinnon added Muay Thai to his training regimen, which may be a factor in his recent pugilism. He also thinks Nate's two fights might have created a copycat effect in the NHL this season.
"When you see a guy like MacKinnon do it, maybe that has a trickle-down effect to other players being like, 'Oh, I can do this too,'" he said.
There are a lot of theories why fighting might be on the rise in the NHL this season. One veteran player said that it's a surefire way to instantly create chemistry with teammates.
"Whether you're on a new team and you're trying to establish yourself with that team, who want to show that you're all-in," he said. "You want to have your teammates appreciate you and standing up for your buddy or for the big hits. I think that's part of it, the camaraderie."
Another player told ESPN that fights help snap some players into a more competitive mindset.
"I know there's a few guys around the league that want to make sure they get a fight in early in the season, just to remind them of the physicality. Sort of an, 'I can still do this,'" the player said. "Nobody wants to fight in preseason, because it's pointless. But in your first early regular-season games, if something happens and there's an opportunity, there's a fight."
About that preseason: Daniel Gallant, who runs HockeyFights.com, believes the league's truncated training camps -- thanks to a move to an 84-game season -- could be an influence.
"I think that opened the door for some players to want to make an impact and impression," he said.
According to HockeyFights, last season said the most unique players register a fight (288) since the 2013-14 campaign. Gallant's theory is that teams are finding talent to fill their lineup that can skate well and set the tone physically.
"To me, fighting in hockey sits at a bit of a tipping point," he said. "With the aforementioned increase in players willing to drop the gloves, the chance for more exciting fights coming on any given night increases."
Of course, the most frequent fighters don't have the ice time or accolades of a Nathan MacKinnon. Players like Columbus Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier and Boston Bruins forward Mark Kastelic (tied for the league lead with 10 fights last season) drop the gloves with frequency. Gallant cites Arber Xhekaj (Montreal Canadiens), Scott Sabourin (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Jack McBain (Utah Mammoth) as fighters worth watching.
McBain already had a fight of the year candidate with Edmonton Oilers forward Trent Frederic, with both players absolutely unloading haymakers before leaving for their dressing rooms. Oilers star Connor McDavid could be seen smiling widely as he tapped his stick on the boards in appreciation.
It's worth asking: Is hockey fighting having a moment after years of decline?
Maybe for fans outside of the hockey bubble.
Consider that McBain vs. Frederic was the No. 2 TikTok video across all ESPN accounts last week. Not just hockey -- everything, with the NFL, college football and the MLB playoffs in full swing.
The greatest evidence of this uptick in popularity was back in 2025, when three fights in nine seconds between the USA and Canada launched the 4 Nations Face-Off into becoming a massive success ... while launching the Tkachuk brothers into a successful podcasting side-hustle. Of course, it helps that the Tkachuks are both stars and among the best offensive players in the NHL.
It's an interesting dynamic when goal-scorers fight. The 2004 Stanley Cup Final is known for two things: Existing on the precipice of the lockout, and having been the series where Calgary's Jarome Iginla and Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier had an unexpected and epic throwdown.
I remember talking to San Jose Sharks players about watching Joe Thornton fight, as he averaged one or two annually for his first dozen seasons. They'd get up on the bench and understand that Jumbo has set the tone.
"I think it surprises you when you see guys that you wouldn't expect to fight end up fighting. That would definitely get you fired up," Johnson said. "Don't get me wrong: You're equally pumped when you have a guy on your team known for fighting that does his job. But I think it gives you a little boost seeing one of your best players do it, for sure."
MacKinnon is the unquestioned tone-setter in Colorado. Watching him fight -- twice! -- was as much for the Avalanche as it was for his own catharsis.
I asked one NHL player, who has never been MacKinnon's teammate, about his fights.
"If I'm on Colorado, I'm like, 'Wow, this guy is setting the tone,'" the player said. "He lost in the Olympics last year. [The Avs] lost in the playoffs. It looks like he's a man on a mission and willing to do whatever it takes. It's not like he's just doing it for dumb reasons."
Gallant likes a good superstar hockey fight. "It reminds you of the pure emotion some of these games carry. A guy like Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres has had eight spirited bouts and he doesn't hold back. I imagine he'll have a few more as the years roll on," he said.
As far as stars that haven't fought yet, Gallant would like see what Oilers center Leon Draisaitl can do. His teammate, McDavid, hasn't had an NHL fight -- his last recorded bout on HockeyFights happened in 2014 while with the OHL Erie Otters. Macklin Celebrini, the consensus choice for the next face of the NHL, doesn't have an entry on his HockeyFights page while playing in his third NHL season. When he has his first fight, that clip probably goes supernova, given Mack's popularity.
OK, let's make that if he has his first fight. Or ever fights at all.
Teams by and large don't want their star players throwing punches. That goes for MacKinnon, too. "I think as the season goes on, you would see him do it less and less, just because it's very important to be healthy going into the playoffs," Johnson said.
Hockey fights are dangerous. Their infrequency in 2026 in comparison to previous decades should be lauded from a player safety perspective. As late as 2008-09, over 41% of all games featured a fight. That total was just 19% last season. I've written about factors in that decline before, with rules changes and the construction of team rosters as the main drivers.
While there's been a slight uptick in recent years, fighting remains infrequent in relation to how things used to be. I'd argue it's that infrequency that makes bouts like McBain vs. Frederic break through to general sports fans, or puts the spotlight on a player like MacKinnon when he fights. The NHL has gotten to a point where fighting remains part of the game but doesn't define the game, like back in the 1970s when the sport was a caricature of itself.
Many of the people I spoke with about this increase in fighting to start the season expect the trend to ebb by the end of the season. According to HockeyFights, the average number of fights per game has ranged between 0.23 and 0.25 for the last five seasons.
"I also just think it's cyclical, too. Some years are going to be up more than others," Johnson said. "But it is interesting to see that it's up this year."
Jump ahead:
Winners, losers of the week
Favorite on-ice moment
Must-see games
Puck headlines
WINNERS AND LOSERS
WINNER: Revenge Games
Brady Tkachuk's return to Ottawa may not have been the most bilious homecoming in recent NHL history -- John Tavares' first game at Nassau Coliseum as a Maple Leafs holds that title belt, what with the rubber snakes tossed at him -- but it came close for sheer nastiness. The Ottawa fans chanted "eff" Brady and his podcast, as well as about him eating crayons; they brought signs mocking his fealty to brother Matthew and his playoff choke job; and, in the greatest tradition of these spiteful nights, they placed totems of Brady in arena urinals, from hockey cards to jersey nameplates.
Brady Tkachuk made the night even more special by leaning into the villainy. He scored Florida's lone goal to give them a 1-0 lead and temporarily mute the crowd. He had a Grinch-like grin when boos rained down during stoppages. By proclaiming in his podcast that he intended to donate any jerseys thrown on the ice to a local charity, he incepted Senators fans to throw several of them. What a night. Hockey!
LOSER: Jumbotron Tributes
What happened to our Revenge Game oasis? When Mitch Marner made his acrimonious return to Toronto as a Golden Knight, the fans parked their booing and chants during his Jumbotron tribute video, even cheering Marner before getting back to the spite soon afterwards.
But on Brady Tkachuk Night, the fans in Ottawa jeered through the entirety of the Senators' video tribute to their former captain, leading to surreal images like Brady Tkachuk in a surgical mask visiting local children while the soundtrack is overwhelmed by hateful jeering. Again, hockey!
WINNER: Good lookin' Manny Malhotra
The fantasy sports site Rotogrinders did one of our favorite things recently: Creating an arbitrary sports ranking using a convoluted methodology. In this case, they ranked the most handsome NHL head coaches using a recipe of "Google's MediaPipe Face Mesh" and "468 facial reference points" and "four neoclassical and two landmark-based," which does sound better than "we threw a dart."
Based on this intricate system, Vancouver Canucks coach Manny Malhotra was ranked as the league's most handsome coach, followed closely by Vegas Golden Knights bench boss Ryan Craig. It's here we'll note that they're both in their first seasons as NHL head coaches, which explains a lot.
LOSER: Rick Bowness
The problem with putting your team on blast only a handful of games into the season is that a coach runs the risk of (a) not being able to effectively do it again and (b) potentially losing the team rather than lighting a fire under them.
Bowness has called out the Columbus Blue Jackets in public and in private, and the season is still spiraling. A mutual parting of ways seems like an inevitability if the Blue Jackets serve up a few more stinkers like that effort against Toronto this week.
WINNER: Vancouver Goldeneyes
no i don't think you understand, we're obsessed 🤩 https://t.co/OQ5WUlJ31c
— Vancouver Goldeneyes (@PWHL__Vancouver) October 21, 2026
In last week's column, we confessed our displeasure with the new PWHL Vegas jerseys. So it's only fair that we acknowledge the absolute perfection of these Vancouver Goldeneyes sweaters, built around a top tier hockey logo. A jersey worthy of the greatness that is KK Harvey.
LOSER: Cryptic marketing
https://t.co/yCvIFtTGQa
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 21, 2026
We're very much looking forward to the Fanatics Hometown Remix jerseys that are coming soon. They were teased this week, as 31 teams released images of their new sweaters along with cryptic messages that needed to be descrambled -- like this Maple Leafs one that reads "It's Always About The Leafs."
I don't know ... I guess it works in theory. But it has very strong "Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine" energy.
FAVORITE ON-ICE MOMENT
Watching Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard operate in a 4-on-3 power play in overtime is like having someone crank a Jack-in-the-Box that also plays your favorite song. Like, it's just a matter of time before it pops, as Bouchard did with the game-winner against Minnesota. It's poetry.
It was also a reminder of a plank in my platform: That we scrap the overtime and shootout for dueling power plays, which is closer to what we watched in the previous 60 minutes. But that's a column for another time.
FAVORITE OFF-ICE MOMENT
We're officially giving Calgary Flames netminder Devin Cooley the "Ilya Bryzgalov Award For Goalie Who Should Absolutely Keep Talking."
After blessing the hockey world with "nothing matters, nobody cares, we're all going to die" as a calming mantra last season, Cooley went viral again for this interview in which he "felt nothing" in a recent game because his "conscious brain" is bad at playing goal in comparison to his "unconscious brain," which is apparently Vezina-worthy. He expanded on this on a Q&A with Sportsnet.
"I have to let my unconscious brain do the work because it reacts a lot quicker." 🧠Devin Cooley chats with @BParkerTV about the psychology behind his unreal performance vs. the Canes. https://t.co/Y96lEOFmLn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 19, 2026
MUST-SEE GAMES
Anaheim Ducks at Philadelphia Flyers
Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 p.m. ET (NHL Network)
Almost-Flyer Leo Carlsson plays in Philadelphia for the first time since the Flyers made him the highest paid player in the NHL this season thanks to their offer sheet. On the undercard: The always interesting matchup between Flyers star Trevor Zegras and his former team. He scored two goals against Anaheim at home last season.
Minnesota Wild at Vancouver Canucks
Sunday, Oct. 25, 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Now that we've seen how Ottawa fans have greeted the return of a former captain who was traded to play with his brother after informing his team he wasn't going to sign a new contract with them, Quinn Hughes plays in Vancouver for the first time following those exact circumstances. Well, save for the whole "playing with his brothers" thing. That comes later.
Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
The Bruins were 7-2-1 in their first 10 games of the season, with the seventh best offense and fourth best defense in the NHL during that span. The defending Stanley Cup champions will be a good measuring stick for coach Marco Sturm's Bruins, in their first meeting of the season.
PUCK HEADLINES
Dateline: Winnipeg
Let's talk Connor Hellebuyck.
The Winnipeg Jets goaltender's suspension ends this Friday. That's not an arbitrary end date. According to sources, Hellebuyck informed the Jets on Oct. 2 that he intended to end his training camp holdout and return to the team. They promptly used a cause in the CBA that gives teams power to suspend players who have "not received permission to be absent from training camp," with the suspension being at "a reasonable length."
I had one NHL agent wonder if Hellebuyck and his representation were aware of this CBA clause, given that he's lost upwards of $900,000 and gained nothing insofar as leverage. At least Dylan Larkin had other fan bases desirously chanting his name.
Not a single source to whom I spoke this week believed that Hellebuyck would be traded before Friday, and that he'll end up collecting his paycheck while remaining back in Michigan, where ESPN's Emily Kaplan said he's been training.
It's been interesting to hear Winnipeg players creak the door open for a possible return to the team. Seeking reconciliation with estranged acquaintances is a basic human response -- some might say a character flaw -- and completely understandable when a player who has been in Winnipeg for 12 seasons decides to peace out.
Kyle Connor, a U.S. national teammate with Hellebuyck, has generally seemed devastated by the betrayal -- Hellebuyck was in his wedding party. Captain Adam Lowry has been more diplomatic, while acknowledging the extremely difficult healing that would have to happen should Hellebuyck return.
(Speaking of nuptials: Hellebuyck attended Lowry's wedding in July with a number of current teammates, with his desire to leave Winnipeg already widely reported by that point. I've sort of been obsessed with this. Did the Lowrys keep Hellebuyck at the same table seating for the reception or does a trade request put him in the back with the weird cousins instead of, like, next to Cole Perfetti?)
I've heard two opposing views on why a Hellebuyck deal hasn't happened yet. The first is that it's the player's fault: That Hellebuyck, who has a no-movement clause, wants to play for a Stanley Cup contender. Like, a sure thing team in the Carolina or Vegas or Florida sense. There are teams that have had talks with the Jets like Utah, Buffalo and Los Angeles, but they're not the level of contender Hellebuyck seeks. Again, that's from a few sources.
Other sources have indicated that it's GM Kevin Cheveldayoff holding up things here, as Hellebuyck would accept a move to places like Buffalo or Los Angeles. But Cheveldayoff wants to hit a grand slam with his most tradable asset, and he's yet to be offered a deal that rises to that standard from a team for whom Hellebuyck is willing to play.
I tend to believe the latter scenario is the catalyst for this stalemate. I've heard the ask from the Jets is astronomical, and frankly that's justified given Hellebuyck's accomplishments. One last note: The NHLPA told me it wanted to see how it played out after his suspension ends before commenting on the Hellebuyck situation. I'd be surprised if there's a grievance filed in the near term, what with Hellebuyck getting paid not to play. There's precedent for that. But the question is how long that'll last.
Dateline: Detroit
As I reported this week, disgruntled former Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin has now expanded his list of potential destinations to at least 10 teams.
We knew about the first three that he gave Detroit in the offseason: The Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights. The list is now expanded to the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning, Utah Mammoth and Washington Capitals. Again, these are teams to whom Larkin would accept a trade. We don't know how deep talks have gone with any of them.
Toronto-based writer Jeff Veillette noted that Larkin's list includes nine of the top 10 teams in current Stanley Cup betting odds, with only the Edmonton Oilers excluded -- sources have told ESPN that Larkin doesn't want a trade to a Canadian team, despite the desires of Montreal fans.
One team I'm fascinated by on his list are the Capitals. They're off to a somewhat middling start. GM Chris Patrick has been very aggressive in adding talent to his lineup, from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jacob Chychrun to Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner. He has a robust pipeline of young talent that could entice the Red Wings, plus an NHL center that can help them now in Dylan Strome, who is signed through next season ($5 million AAV) and has no trade protection.
Ultimately, I think the Capitals would rather upgrade their back end in their quest for a second Stanley Cup. But as always, they're one to keep an eye on.