The NHL had to ask Rob Ray to keep his clothes on

Ever try to fight a large, greased up man on skates?

Imagine being on skates, attempting to put all of your power into a punch, but having nothing to hang onto to prevent your feet from flying out from under you. That’s what it was like to fight Rob Ray, before the NHL implemented Rule 46.13 - also know as “The Rob Ray Rule.”

Ray was a tough fighter. He took it an extra step by having his pads loosely strapped (if at all) in order to remove them in one swoop with his jersey at the onset of a fight. On top of that, he was rumored to have applied vaseline to his body before games, so the unlucky foe would be unable to grab on and keep him close. Unfortunately, the NHL decided to end this spectacle, making it so if a player gets in a fight and doesn’t have their jersey tied down, they’ll find themselves out for the rest of the game.

With the rule in place, Ray continued to be a terror when he took part in fights - we just missed out on continuing to see him brawl like a boxer from the 1800s.