The Impact of the Instigator Rule on Fighting in the National Hockey League

Table 2

The impact of the instigator rule on the NHL.

Fights/gm			Total penalty (minutes/gm)			Net penalty (mins/gm)
Mean	SD	value	Mean	SD	value	Mean	SD	value
Stanley Cup champions	Preinstigator rule	0.60	0.27	0.03	13.00	1.88	0.01	−0.43	0.79	0.001
	Postinstigator rule	0.44	0.22		10.44	1.32		0.18	0.37
Conference champions	Preinstigator rule	0.66	0.33	0.002	13.26	1.89	0.0002	−0.38	0.78	<0.0001
	Postinstigator rule	0.48	0.23		10.74	1.43		0.15	0.40
Playoff teams	Preinstigator rule	0.73	0.31	<0.0001	13.46	1.73	<0.0001	−0.08	0.63	0.0002
	Postinstigator rule	0.50	0.23		10.92	1.42		0.07	0.43
Nonplayoff teams	Preinstigator rule	0.67	0.31	<0.0001	10.90	1.42	<0.0001	0.20	0.56	<0.0001
	Postinstigator rule	0.53	0.24		12.30	1.74		−0.09	0.45
Average over all teams:
	Fights/game	SD	value
Preinstigator rule	0.71	0.31	<0.0001
Postinstigator rule	0.51	0.24