Paul Coffey brought a lot of things to the game during his Hall of Fame career.
Physicality wasn't one of them.
Nonetheless, he believes that more hitting would elevate the entertainment value of today's NHL.
"The one thing I wish -- and can I say again I love watching the game, it's great - I wish there was more hitting," he told Sportsnet's "Writer's Bloc" podcast. "I wasn't a hitter, but I’ll tell you what: If I had my proverbial head up my rear-end one game and I wasn't into it and somebody hit me, it certainly woke me up real fast. I think that part of the game is gone."
Coffey, one of the finest skaters in NHL history, ranks among the most accomplished offensive defensemen ever to play in the league. He is second on the all-time lists for defensemen in goals (396), assists (1,135) and points (1,531) and played on Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Penguins and Edmonton.
He also picked up three Norris trophies over the course of his 21-season career, which roughly matches the number of checks he threw during that time.
Nonetheless, Coffey said he appreciates the dimension that frequent and rigorous checking added to games when he was playing.
"You put traffic, you start hitting guys, (the) game gets a lot more interesting," he said. "The real players come out to play, the real players know how to think in traffic and that was an exciting part of the game that I don't know if it'll ever come back."
