Byron: “I'm sure fighting won't be around hockey much longer...”

The fighting code took a beating last week after Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron accepted to drop the gloves with MacKenzie Weegar. The latter wanted payback as he was still upset about the hit the Habs forward delivered to his head earlier this season. While Byron was suspended three games by the NHL for the hit, Weegar felt it wasn’t enough. 

Some say Byron felt pressured to accept his invasion to drop the gloves and Weegar landed a huge uppercut to his jaw. One of the linesmen called the Canadiens’ trainer over who escorted Byron off the ice. The poor guy could barely stand up and needed the help of three team members to make it to the dressing room…

It was surprising to see Byron back in action last night, after missing two games following the fight. As some fans believed it wasn't long enough to recover from the punches, the Habs forward was simply happy to return to help his team stick around in the tight playoff race in the Eastern conference. 

It was the media's first chance to ask Byron about the code and the reason why he accepted Weegar's invitation and the Habs veteran talked about his choice to "follow the code", per TSN's John Lu. 

Byron went on to comment on what he would do differently if faced with a similar situation in the future and made the statement that he believes fighting won't be around hockey much longer, so he might not get the chance to fight anymore in the NHL. 

This type of comments won't make the league's enforcers were happy. However, Byron wants to move on from the incident and focus on the playoff race. With two games to go, Montreal is tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wild card spot in the East.