Okay, because I hate watching ballroom dancing where things just keep going around in circles -

We're confusing two scenarios.  Scenario 1 is Lucic v. Weaver.  That is, one of the Bruins's top players initiates a fight with a player on the other team regardless of who that player is to his squad.  We had the bulk of this conversation about whether Lucic's retaliation on Weaver was dumb or not.  I think concensus (including his coach) was that it was warranted and part of Lucic being a force.  The same would be true if Zach Smith slashes Horton across the achilles and Horton turns around and fights him. Bruin player reacting on emotion gets into a fight that hopefully keeps the opposition honest even if it means Horton is off the ice for 5 minutes.  Assume Bruins roll four lines for that 5 minutes and each shift is 40 seconds - 300min/40 = 7.5 shifts/4 lines = Horton misses two shifts.  If you're not willing to support this, then you probably also don't want players blocking shots because they might miss a couple of shifts walking it off in the tunnel.

Scenario 2 is Lucic v. Laracque.  Remember Laracque chasing Lucic all over the ice trying to goad him into a fight and Lucic telling him flat out: I'm under coach's orders not to fight you.  That's the scenario where you don't want your top guys fighting Neil or Dziurzynski or Smith just because they come calling with a facewash and a nasty comment about Horton's wife.  It's a calculated provocation and strategically, it's what the opposition is trying to goad you into doing.  So...don't do that.  But if they escalate to attempts to injure - injure them with rights to the face.

Incidentally, I support Lucic fighting Neil ever game, all game.  He routinely opens that guy up like a can of tomato soup.  Love it.

Throw in Crosby VS Giroux in playoffs last year. That's pure emotion. Old time hockey indeed.

In response to MeanE's comment:

My point is that they don't have a 4th line tough guy!  If you consider Neil a "real player", than so is Smith.  I wasn't happy about the outcome of the Horton-Sestito exchange last year either.  You never answered my question.  If you are afraid of one of your power forwards dropping the gloves because of concussions, would you re-sign him?  If you take the "power" out of Nathan's game, is he worth the money?  Is he skilled enough to warrant $4 million a year?

Yeah, I don't really know what you mean about suddenly being afraid to let Horton drop the gloves because of concussions.  The strategy has never really changed on that one, although I would certainly hope that he's less likely to fight goons now than he was two years ago.

The point you're missing is that Horton was signed to score and play the power forward game.  He was never a fighter.  He had a handful of fights in his career before coming here.  The power forward game is about driving to the net, battling in front, being heavy on the puck, scoring rebounds, ect.  That's Horton.  His game has never, and should never, be about slugging it out with goons on the other team.  That is not Horton's "power"

When he came to Boston, he bought into Bruins hockey and fought a little more than he had.  That was fine.  But after missing significant time with two major concussions, let's just focus on being an effective power forward again.  

And if the time is right to risk dropping the gloves every now and then, fine.  But that time shouldn't against Zach Smith when he comes out to disrupt the Bruins top line and get some momentum going for Ottawa.  Let Thornton deal with that nonsense.

Horton had a bad reputation in Florida, inconsistent and soft!  He's not hitting again.  Never said he needed to slug with goons.  Btw smith is not a goon, has played pk and pp already tonight. 

In response to MeanE's comment:

Horton had a bad reputation in Florida, inconsistent and soft!  He's not hitting again.  Never said he needed to slug with goons.  Btw smith is not a goon, has played pk and pp already tonight. 

Obviously the reputation was nothing more than that.  I certainly wouldn't call him inconsistent or soft.