Former enforcer rethinks his views on fighting
'I don't even like telling people I played in the NHL,' says former tough guy Andrew Peters. 'There's no real pride in what I did'
Back in the spring of 1998, Andrew Peters was in a hotel room in Toronto being grilled by Detroit Red Wings management and scouts in his pre-draft interview. The Red Wings allowed me to sit in on the proceedings and I saw a supremely confident young man who made it clear to the Red Wings that if they drafted him, he’d be willing to do whatever it took to play in the NHL and help them win.
For 229 career games, Peters did just that over five seasons in Buffalo, after the Sabres drafted him 34th overall, and then one year in New Jersey. Even though he averaged only a point roughly every 33 games and a goal every 57, the 6-foot-4, 247-pounder filled the role of enforcer, taking on some of the most intimidating fighters the game has ever seen. He fought Brian McGrattan seven times. He even fought George (The Violent Gentleman) Parros, who now runs the NHL’s department of player safety, four times. All told, including pre-season games, Peters fought 108 times in the NHL to go along with the 17 fights he had in the American Hockey League and 64 fights he had as a teenager in the Ontario Hockey League, according to www.hockeyfights.com. In one AHL game, he even got into a fight with his older brother, Geoff. Peters engaged in almost 200 hockey fights from the time he was 17 to the age of 30. And in return, he made about $2.8 million in career earnings and set himself up for a media career in Buffalo after his playing days ended.
It all started with a tweet last week, the day after two of the few remaining heavyweights in the NHL – Ryan Reaves of the New York Rangers and Kurtis MacDermid of the Colorado Avalanche – squared off in a fight at center ice. Peters basically admitted that he’s conflicted about it all and about fighting’s place in the game. He’s been thinking a lot about it since that tweet and to say that he has regrets about the way his career unfolded would be an understatement. Now 41 and a decade removed from his tenure as a one-dimensional fighter, Peters views his career much differently now than he did then.
“I remember the first time my junior coach told me I had to fight in order to make it,” Peters told Hockey Unfiltered. “I was like, ‘How hard can it be?’ And now you’re here all these years later and think to yourself, ‘What was I doing?’ It’s embarrassing. I don’t even like telling people that I played in the NHL because I didn’t play in the NHL. I think I played maybe 10 games in the NHL where I was a real player.”
And Peters knows exactly how all this looks. He got to live his dream of playing in the NHL and made millions of dollars by fighting and now he’s speaking out against it. Some have accused him of being a turncoat. He recalls feeling the same way about former Sabres tough guy Larry Playfair, who said during Peters’ career that he would have no problem if the NHL eliminated fighting. Peters was upset at Playfair at the time, but has since spoken to him and understands his concern.
A big turning point for Peters was when he became a father eight years ago. His son doesn’t play hockey, simply because he’s never been interested in it. He plays basketball instead. Peters escaped the emotional and mental problems a lot of the frequent fighters have experienced after their careers, for two reasons. “I changed my style to a more defensive style as I got a little older because I realized how hard these guys were hitting,” Peters said. “I quit drinking and I quit taking pills, my pain pills and all this other sh-- that people take. I started eating healthy. A lot of it is what you put in your body. I have my ups and downs like everyone else, but I would not say that I’m suffering in pain mentally due to what I did. Yet. And let me emphasize the word yet. That doesn’t mean it won’t be later on in my life.”
Peters knew what he was signing up for once he started fighting in junior hockey. And even though he was at the low end of the pay scale by NHL standards, he became wealthy doing it. He also spent six years in the best league in the world. He’s actually being a little hard on himself when it comes to how he views his career, because he would not have lasted near as long as he did if he couldn’t play. But it’s pretty remarkable how Peters looks back on his NHL tenure.
“There’s no real pride in what I did,” he said. “I’m proud that my teammates respected my job and respected what I was willing to do for them, but in no way does my career indicate that I was a good hockey player. And I was. I was a good hockey player. But my career doesn’t indicate that I was a good hockey player. I look back and think to myself, I would rather not have made it as a real hockey player than make it as a fighter.”
Players of Peters’ ilk are almost extinct now. There is no ambiguity over what he was in the NHL. He was a goon. He once went 93 games without scoring a goal on a goalie. Of the 229 career games Peters played, he received more than 10 minutes of ice time in two of them and 44 times he registered fewer than two minutes. He averaged just 3:52 of ice time per game. It’s not a career upon which Peters looks fondly. The game is certainly better without the one-dimensional enforcers in it, and nobody realizes that more than one of the most one-dimensional enforcers the game has ever seen.
Fighting for the crowds and cameras is BS. Fighting because someone needs an ass whuppin is an entire different kettle of fish and that’s hockey.
Fighting in The Show, or any league really for that matter, seems to be running its course. As a pure viewer, and someone who only played hockey until grade 6 (I can still skate!), I've just never personally taken to it. But I am numb to it. It's "a part" of the game. Most of the time, when it happens I just watch because it's been so ingrained into me. There's rarely a judgement.
Then, there are instances where I'm almost fully aware of what's happening, and I realize that no other sport (to my knowledge) has legalized fist fighting, other than boxing, mixed martial arts, etc. I don't watch hockey for the fighting. I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of those who do watch wouldn't be watching for that single aspect either. Yet, if removed I'm sure there would be an outcry.
Who are the ones who would be upset, and why? What reasoning other than, "Well it's been a part of the game for so long! Hockey always has had fighting, and it needs to continue!"
I personally don't consider a reason based around "tradition" in this regard to be valid. With what we know about CTE, concussions in sport, and the damage that can be caused - especially in such a high-velocity, high-impact sport like hockey - I see no reason to top it off with throwing knuckles to faces.
To spark energy back into the team, to get momentum, to get the crowd into it, to stand up for a teammate, there are plenty of ways to do so other than fighting in this game.
I love the sport. I love the speed. I love the competitiveness. I love the skill. But fighting, there are no qualities about it that I find adds value to the game.
Great piece here, Ken!