Fighting is far from dead in the NHL, but some teams do it substantially more than others. A few days ago, I predicted which teams I believe are going to have the most fights this season. If you haven’t checked that article out yet, you can do so right here.
Related Article: Predicting the NHL Teams With the Most Fights in 2023-24
Now, it’s time to look at the other side of the coin. These are the teams that I believe are going to have the fewest fighting majors this NHL season.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are almost always near the bottom of the league in fights. It’s just not a part of the game that they have put any focus on over the last number of years, when Sidney Crosby has the most career fights of anyone on the roster, that tells you something.
Pittsburgh fought just seven times last season, and Marcus Pettersson was the only player with more than one scrap. I don’t expect things to be must different for the Penguins this year.
| Notable Fighters | Career Fights | 2022-23 Fights |
| Marcuss Pettersson | 7 | 2 |
| Sidney Crosby | 7 | 0 |
| Mark Friedman | 3 | 1 |
Los Angeles Kings
The LA Kings have almost nobody on their roster that fights with any regularity. Andreas Englund is the only player that had more than one fight last year. They had Brendan Lemieux for a while but traded him last season. Now, the Kings have one of the softest rosters in the league.
I would not be surprised if the Kings finish with the fewest fights this season. Again, outside of Englund, there may only be a few one-off scraps. Unless somebody like Hayden Hodgson gets called up, there probably won’t be much spiciness in King’s games this year.
| Notable Fighters | Career Fights | 2022-23 Fights |
| Andreas Englund | 7 | 5 |
| Phillip Danault | 5 | 1 |
Detroit Red Wings
Like the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings are another team that is usually near the bottom of the league in fights. Last season, they had just seven. The addition of Klim Kostin gives them a little more sandpaper this season, but I still don’t think the Wings will move out of the bottom five.
| Notable Fighters | Career Fights | 2022-23 Fights |
| Klim Kostin | 5 | 4 |
| Ben Chiarot | 10 | 1 |
| Dylan Larkin | 7 | 0 |
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars toughness is very spread out amongst a bunch of guys that are good for two or three fights a season. But they don’t have anybody who normally reaches numbers any higher than that. Last season, they had eight players combine for 13 fights, which was 27th in the NHL. I believe Dallas will be down near the bottom again this season with similar statistics. A bunch of guys with one or two scraps and nobody with more than three.
| Notable Fighters | Career Fights | 2022-23 Fights |
| Jamie Benn | 32 | 2 |
| Jani Hakanpaa | 3 | 2 |
| Mason Marchment | 3 | 2 |
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are another team that had just seven fights last season. It’s been over five years since they broke the 20 fight mark, and they are almost always bottom five in the NHL. The Sabres have added some more sandpaper to their lineup; however, they traded for Riley Stillman last season and signed Connor Clifton this offseason.
I still don’t think they are going to be enough to keep Buffalo out of the bottom five. The Sabres probably have more than seven scraps this year, but not by much.
| Notable Fighters | Career Fights | 2022-23 Fights |
| Connor Clifton | 9 | 4 |
| Riley Stillman | 12 | 4 |
| Jordan Greenway | 7 | 0 |
Honorable Mention: A team that could very well end up in the bottom five is the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are perenially one of the lowest fighting teams in the NHL and finished dead last with just five fights last season. However, they made a very uncharacteristic signing this offseason and brought in Brendan Lemieux.
Whether or not Carolina ends up in the bottom five will totally depend on how much Brendan Lemieux plays. If he’s a regular in the lineup, his fight total will probably keep Carolina out of the bottom five. If he doesn’t play much or gets waived, then the Hurricanes are right about where they were last year.
So there you have it. My picks for the teams that fight the least this season. We’ll see how correct I am over the next six-plus months. The puck will be dropped for real in a few days. Enjoy the season!
