[archibalduk]

I suppose what this all boils down to is having some sort of customisation over the playing style in order to allow for truly authentic historic rosters (and for differences in playing styles between different leagues/nations).

IMO fighting still has some importance certainly in the North American leagues but clearly not as much as in the past (as people have already discussed above). Perhaps some sort of playing style settings could be introduced to reflect the importance on a league by league basis. So those wanting to create authentic historic rosters from something like the 1970s could do so. Perhaps this setting could make intimidation players more attractive to GMs and that winning fights in matches has a greater positive effect on the team (i.e. in order to recreate the success the 70s Flyers, etc had with intimidation).

No doubt there are other differences in playing style when looking back at decades gone (I know little about hockey before the mid 90s) which maybe could also be the subject of some sort of settings. Maybe this could be the icing on the cake once OOTP's hockey game has been developed and released for a while.

P.s. I personally absolutely disagree with fighting in hockey (just my personal view of course). Although I appreciate it can pump up a team, I personally feel that the game wouldn't suffer in its absence. Nonetheless, it's important that such an aspect is accurately simulated in the game.