The QMJHL has officially banned fighting from the league, potentially signalling a new less violent era of hockey.

The end of fighting in hockey could be near.

As a part of the league’s new safety regulations for the upcoming season, the QMJHL formally announced that they will ban fighting and heavily punish any and all who do not follow the new league protocols.

The Hockey News expanded on the news of the fighting ban in March, with comments from the QJMHL, the office of Quebec sports minister Isabelle Charest, and Enrico Ciccone, a Liberal member of Quebec's national assembly and a former NHL enforcer. Kevin Dube of Le Journal de Quebec first broke the news. Although the news was confirmed by the league, they stressed that a formal announcement had not been made, despite detailing what the plan for punishment would be to The Hockey News.

The formal announcement included the following punishments:

As soon as a fight occurs, those engaged must be systematically ejected from the game.

Any player found to have instigated the fight will also receive an automatic one-game suspension.

The person declared to be the aggressor during the fight will receive a minimum of two automatic games of suspension.

In addition to the game misconduct, an automatic game suspension is imposed starting with the player's 2nd fight of the season. This suspension is in addition to the sanctions described in the preceding paragraphs.

This is the first step toward fighting in hockey going the way of leather goalie pads or the wooden stick. The QMJHL is looking to protect their players, most of whom will never play hockey beyond junior or U Sports. Risking the long-term damage that fighting has been suggested to be related to through initial research, such as concussions and CTE, is well worth the removal of fist fighting in the eyes of the QMJHL.

The OHL has a three-fight rule. After three fights in a season for any player, they are suspended for two games for each subsequent fight. This came in 2016 after initially instituting a 10-game limit for the 2012-13 season.

In 2021-22, the WHL began assessing a misconduct against anyone who tries to remove their own or an opponent's helmet. Enforcing helmets to stay on during fights forces players to reconsider whether they want to be punching at a helmet rather than an opponent's head.

Whether other leagues in the CHL or across hockey choose to follow suit is going to be interesting. Fans on either side of the argument of fighting in hockey have been vocal with the QMJHL’s move away from violence. Regardless of that, the game has seen less and less fighting every year. This move seems to be moving the timeline up for when fighting goes from rare to nonexistent.

Safety is at the root of this move. Whether you are on the side of fighting or not, you have to be on the side of making the game safer for players between the ages of 16 and 20, the age range of players in the QMJHL.