By: Trent Leith / April 14, 2025 Welcome to Train of Thought, a series that, instead of diving deep into one topic, touches on several. This edition has thoughts on the Forbort/Trenin fight, Demko’s absence, and making a case for keeping Suter over Boeser.
Fighting has no rules
We all know Derek Forbot had his orbital bone broken by a cheap shot from Yakov Trenin on Saturday night.
Forbort was left on the ice, clutching his face in pain and would need to be helped off.
Beyond the on-ice penalties he received two for unsportsmanlike conduct, a five for fighting and a 10-minute “aggressor” penalty. But he got no supplemental discipline from the league.
Ben Kuzma gets to the bottom of why there was no suspension on the play in a great article.
But after this play, and the throw the other night from Jalen Chatfield, it got me wondering why there are no rules about how a hockey fight can take place. Couldn’t the rule book have a section in the official rules about how a hockey fight can be conducted? No punching on the ground, now throws, or elbows etc. etc.
But I think the reason that doesn’t exist and why we always have to refer back to this unwritten and elusive Code is because if the NHL made rules for fighting, it would be a public admission that it likes fights.
Now, this is all speculation, I want to make that clear. This is simply a Train of Thought. The league is in some hot water about CTE and concussions from the game. So, despite how much they actually like it, I think the league has to keep fights at an arm’s length.
As soon as you write rules on how to fight, it means that when you are fighting, you are no longer breaking the rules. It means the league is okay with fighting, at least to a specific degree. That is something I don’t think Daddy Bettman likes very much.
Because fighting is against the rules, there are no official rules on what a hockey fight looks like, despite what we all know. And the only thing holding players accountable in fighting is The Code.
Unfortunately, The Code can’t hand out supplemental discipline. Despite how bad it looks, I think we will have to live with it if we want fighting in the game. Is this a bad take? Probably, but I want to hear your thoughts. Hit me up on Bluesky.
Suter > Boeser?
I love Brock Boeser, I will gladly wax poetic about him every chance I can get. He is one of my favourites, one of the fans’ favourites and one of his teammates’ favourites. However, he is due for a big contract. The Canucks have depth issues down the middle, would it be wiser to use that money on a centreman?
To be clear, I am not saying the Canucks should throw and 8×5 at Suter, but if you could only bring one back, I have time for Suter.
Suter has a lower ceiling but a higher floor, and even with a raise, will be significantly cheaper. With J.T. Miller gone and Elias Pettersson doing whatever it is he has been doing the last year, it might not be the worst idea to focus on centres first.
Noah makes a great point here; Pius Suter is certainly having a career year, shooting 18.5%. But Suter brings more than just offence. This year, he has played more penalty killing minutes than any other season of his career. He is 3rd on the team in average TIO on the PK with 2:17. The next forward on that list is Teddy Blueger in 8th with 2:06. Leage average PK is 78.37% this year, the Canucks are 2nd best penalty kill in the league with 82.57%. Suter, who is first over the boards, is a big part of that.
He has no doubt stepped up in the absence of a true first or second-line centre, but ideally, he is a 3rd line centre who can play up. For the right price, I would consider keeping him. And does that come at the expense of Brock? Only time will tell, but it should be thought on long and hard.
Injuries
Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
Good news? Filip Chytil was at Canucks practice on Sunday in a no-contact jersey. He won’t play again this year, but with his previous concussion history, it’s great to see him back out there, at least getting a feel for things.
Now the bad news.
Demko is done for the year. Tocchet says he is recovering from an illness and sees no reason to play Demko. I don’t know about that. I hope nothing fishy is going on with Demko. If he is injured again and they are trying to keep it quiet, I’d be very concerned.
Silver lining? Nikita Tolopilo will get his first NHL game before the season’s end.