The NHL may be secretly moving towards a ban on fighting.

There are concerns that the National Hockey League may be making a clandestine move to wards banning fighting in the game. 

Michael Hurley of CBS Boston believes that while the NHL won't admit it publicly, they are indeed already working towards the fighting ban. From Hurley:

The NHL has not expressly forbidden fighting on its ice. But, for all intents and purposes, it essentially has put an expiration date on old-fashioned on-ice fistfights.

Hurley points to an incident on Tuesday night between Bruins' defenseman Adam McQuaid and Blue Jackets' forward Josh Anderson, a fight that was blatantly stopped by the officials despite the fact that both men had clearly indicated they were both willing and ready to throw punches.

Here's a look at the incident:

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Hurley believes the NHL has made up it's mind, but is hesitant to move forward with a blanket ban due to their fear of the fan backlash they would receive as a result.

But declaring an outright ban on fighting in hockey would turn away many of the game’s old-school fans. And in a sport that isn’t quite as popular as football, basketball and baseball, the NHL can hardly afford to lose any fans for any reason.

So instead, this is what we’re left with. Fighting is dying a slow death, right before our eyes.

The evidence does seem to be right before our eyes, and fans aren't likely to be happy about it.