Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings is one that many fans of the Vancouver Canucks have had circled on their calendars for a while.

Why?

Because it’s the first matchup between the two teams since November 7. And on November 7, Tanner Jeannot delivered an illegal check to the jaw of Brock Boeser that resulted in a serious head injury.

No bones about it: this was a cheapshot, and a cheapshot with consequences, at that.

For Jeannot, it was a three-game suspension without pay, the first such discipline of his career.

For Boeser, it was an “upper-body injury” that was almost certainly a concussion and which kept Boeser out of the lineup for the next seven games. The Canucks, for what it’s worth, went 3-4-0 without Boeser over that stint.

There was no immediate response to the incident, aside from a few on-ice shoves and the exchange of some nasty words. Jeannot was assessed a major and a game misconduct after review, and was promptly escorted to the dressing room for the remainder of the night.

And that, more than anything, is why some folks have this date circled on their calendar. Not because of the divisional rivalry, not because the Canucks trail the Kings by five points in the standings. But because something happened a couple of months ago, for which their was no direct response, and now there’s a perception that something needs to happen in order to rectify that.

Which leads us to wonder, why? What good really comes out of a revenge bout this far down the road of time? What’s the point of it all?

Let’s tackle one of the most common pro-fighting talking points right off the bat: deterrence. It might occasionally be a relevant factor in the modern NHL, but it’s increasingly less so. And it really doesn’t apply to this situation.

Here’s the thing: Tanner Jeannot seems to genuinely enjoy fighting. He’s already dropped the mitts five times this season, with customers as tough as Luke Schenn and both Foligno brothers. He’s fought a total of 39 times over the past three-and-a-half seasons. That has him well and truly among the league leaders.

Nobody really likes getting punched in the face. But Jeannot does seem a lot more comfortable with the concept than the average person. And probably more comfortable with it than anyone on the Canucks.

If one of the Canucks challenges Jeannot on Thursday, we have little doubt he’ll say ‘yes.’ He’ll probably be pretty excited about it, actually. For a player like Jeannot, who makes his bread on physicality, it’s all about impact. The other team feeling the need to trade knuckles with you is just a sign of that impact having been made.

Fighting Jeannot isn’t going to deter him from throwing more hits like that. If anything, it’s going to encourage him. The loss of salary he incurred through his suspension should, reasonably, be a far stronger deterrent, and that’s already happened.

There is more to it than simple deterrence, however. There are more tangible motivations at play. There’s honour. Vengeance. All that good stuff. And we’re not just saying so glibly. Hockey is an emotional sport played by emotional players. How players feel matters and has a demonstrable impact on their on-ice performances. Heck, if any team is a testament to that truth, it’s the 2024/25 Canucks, who have far too often let their emotions get the better of them.

If there’s a chance that fighting for Brock Boeser’s honour might impart some good feelings on the Canucks, who’s to say that’s not worth it? Who’s to say that can’t have a tangible benefit on team performance – especially to this team, so badly in need of a pick-me-up?

But one has to wonder what genuinely good feelings can come of this. They say revenge is a dish best-served cold, but it’s been two months, and a busy two months at that. Boeser has long since returned to the lineup, plenty of hockey has been played in between, and any hard feelings left over toward Jeannot have mostly worn out. We’ve developed some new public enemies, like P-L Dubois, and been plenty distracted by rumours of enemies within.

It’s hard not to feel as though, two months down the road, any notion of revenge is at least a little performative.

Someone’s almost certainly going to make the challenge all the same. It’s just what happens in hockey. But who? The Canucks’ own toughest fighter, Dakota Joshua, is out of the lineup. The task then probably falls to Vincent Desharnais, if he’s in the lineup, or maybe Tyler Myers or Derek Forbort.

Hey, speaking of Forbort, he’s an example of when the emotional side of fighting can really have a major positive impact. Most will remember the time back in February of 2021 when Forbort, then a Winnipeg Jet, jumped the rookie Nils Höglander and was subsequently swarmed by approximately 14 Canucks.

And most will probably also remember that a week or so after that, the two teams played again, and Zack MacEwen took Forbort to a serious task.

That was a big emotional boost. It certainly seemed to have an impact on Höglander, who could be seen smiling on the bench. Most would agree that it improved the spirit of and around the team at the time.

But here’s the thing: that was a pretty particular circumstance that involved a designated enforcer-type in MacEwen enacting some fairly one-sided vengeance on Forbort. It was downright cathartic seeing him rain down punches like some high school hero standing up to a bully.

That’s almost certainly not going to be the case when a Canuck tries the same with Jeannot. They just don’t have the personnel to make it happen. Is Desharnais dropping the gloves, hugging Jeannot, getting a shot or two in, and probably eating several more in return really going to make anyone feel any better about the whole thing? Is it going to make Boeser feel safer out there? Is it going to help the Canucks secure a win against LA and maybe even build up some momentum?

We doubt it. We don’t doubt it’s going to happen all the same. We just doubt it’s going to really matter in any way, shape, or form.

(And, for the record, if the Canucks had a real bruiser capable of going toe-to-toe with Jeannot, we don’t think it’d make that much of a difference.)

Had someone stood up for Boeser right after the hit happened, one could argue for a tangible emotional benefit. Of course, that might have reduced the Canucks’ chances of scoring on the subsequent power play or of winning the rest of the game, which they did. But it might have at least helped bring the team together in a trying moment.

Now? More than two months later? It all feels more than a little pointless, like something that is happening just because it is supposed to and for no real reason other than that.