NHL API – Fighting Major Penalty Breakout

We've added specificity for major penalties in our NHL API. There are now two major penalty data points: penalties_major and penalties_major_fighting.

penalties_major_fighting captures major penalties specifically assessed for fighting. It is a subset of penalties_major.

This statistic is available at the game and season level. See below for supported feeds and sample data.

⭐ Benefit

Distinguish fighting majors from other major penalties across game and season stats — so you can surface fighting-specific metrics in player and team profiles, enrich enforcer and penalty analytics, and report on fighting trends without inferring them from generic penalty counts.

📋 Recommended Actions

Read penalties_major_fighting alongside penalties_major in the Game feeds (Boxscore, Summary, Push Statistics) and season feeds (Player Profile, Seasonal Statistics, Series Statistics, League Leaders) to break out fighting penalties specifically.
Treat penalties_major_fighting as a subset of penalties_major: the major count is inclusive of fighting majors, so do not add the two together. To derive non-fighting majors, subtract (penalties_major − penalties_major_fighting).
Note that stat location differs by feed and format (team/statistics nodes in XML game feeds vs. nested statistics.total objects in season JSON) — map per feed rather than assuming one path.

☑️ Sample Requests:

Seasonal Statistics

curl --request GET \
     --url https://api.sportradar.com/nhl/trial/v7/en/seasons/2025/REG/teams/441660ea-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44/statistics.json \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

Game Summary

curl --request GET \
     --url https://api.sportradar.com/nhl/trial/v7/en/games/0583d6ee-637e-4856-ba13-969b19a0a430/summary.json \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

🔢 Products

Sport	Product	Version(s)
Ice Hockey	NHL API	v7

🔁 Endpoints Affected

Game

Season

⚙️ Return Samples

<team id="441660ea-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44" name="Blues" market="St. Louis" points="2" sr_id="sr:team:3695" reference="19" strength="even" home="true">
    <record wins="12" losses="15" overtime_losses="7"/>
    <scoring>
        <period number="1" sequence="1" points="1"/>
        <period number="2" sequence="2" points="0"/>
        <period number="3" sequence="3" points="1"/>
    </scoring>
    <statistics goals="2" assists="4" penalties="7" penalty_minutes="17" team_penalties="0" team_penalty_minutes="0" shots="22" blocked_att="8" missed_shots="13" hits="22" giveaways="10" takeaways="2" blocked_shots="11" faceoffs_won="17" faceoffs_lost="32" powerplays="3" shooting_pct="9.1" faceoff_win_pct="34.7" faceoffs="49" points="6" emptynet_goals="0" overtime_assists="0" overtime_goals="0" overtime_shots="0" penalties_major="1" penalties_major_fighting="1" penalties_match="0" penalties_minor="6" penalties_misconduct="0" plus_minus="-16" time_on_ice="5:52:38"/>
    <!-- ...additional game data omitted... -->
</team>

{
    "id": "433de553-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44",
    "status": "ACT",
    "full_name": "Sidney Crosby",
    "first_name": "Sidney",
    "last_name": "Crosby",
    "abbr_name": "S.Crosby",
    "height": 71,
    "weight": 200,
    "handedness": "L",
    "position": "F",
    "primary_position": "C",
    "jersey_number": "87",
    "experience": "20",
    "birth_place": "Cole Harbour, NS, CAN",
    "birthdate": "1987-08-07",
    "updated": "2026-03-18T16:03:01+00:00",
    "sr_id": "sr:player:31007",
    "reference": "8471675",
    "rookie_year": 2005,
    "salary": 8700000,
    "nationality": "CAN",
    "league": {
        "id": "fd560107-a85b-4388-ab0d-655ad022aff7",
        "name": "NHL",
        "alias": "NHL"
    },
    "team": {
        "id": "4417b7d7-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44",
        "name": "Penguins",
        "market": "Pittsburgh",
        "alias": "PIT",
        "sr_id": "sr:team:3697",
        "reference": "5"
    },
    "draft": {
        "team_id": "4417b7d7-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44",
        "year": 2005,
        "round": "1",
        "pick": "1"
    },
    "references": [
        {
            "source_id": "8471675",
            "scope": "NHL",
            "id_type": "external"
        },
        {
            "source_id": "ed66350d-f19d-4afc-90d1-672599a7ecdc",
            "scope": "hockey",
            "id_type": "sport_profile"
        }
    ],
    "seasons": [
        {
            "id": "206309a8-f31b-4d71-b1e5-57c6d3f969cb",
            "year": 2013,
            "type": "PRE",
            "qualifiers": {
                "goals_per_game": false,
                "assists_per_game": true,
                "points_per_game": true,
                "shooting_pct": false
            },
            "teams": [
                {
                    "id": "4417b7d7-0f24-11e2-8525-18a905767e44",
                    "name": "Penguins",
                    "market": "Pittsburgh",
                    "alias": "PIT",
                    "sr_id": "sr:team:3697",
                    "reference": "5",
                    "statistics": {
                        "total": {
                            "games_played": 2,
                            "goals": 0,
                            "assists": 2,
                            "penalties": 1,
                            "penalty_minutes": 2,
                            "shots": 0,
                            "blocked_att": 2,
                            "missed_shots": 1,
                            "hits": 0,
                            "giveaways": 0,
                            "takeaways": 0,
                            "blocked_shots": 0,
                            "faceoffs_won": 8,
                            "faceoffs_lost": 12,
                            "winning_goals": 0,
                            "plus_minus": 3,
                            "games_scratched": 1,
                            "shooting_pct": 0.0,
                            "faceoff_win_pct": 40.0,
                            "faceoffs": 20,
                            "points": 2,
                            "overtime_goals": 0,
                            "penalties_major_fighting": 0,
                            "penalty_minutes_additional": 0,
                            "tying_goals": 0
                        }
                        // ...additional statistics omitted...
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}