PITTSBURGHâ€”In 270 games split between the NHL and AHL, Steve MacIntyre has served 810 penalty minutes. The vast majority of those came in five-minute increments after he'd been punched in the face several times by another person.

MacIntyre's next fight as a Pittsburgh Penguin could cost him seven minutes, though, should he deliberately take off his helmet beforehand. It's not something MacIntyre does typicallyâ€”"helmets are there for a reason," he saidâ€”but he rightfully wonders what the new rule means on a small scale, like when one fighter wears a visor and the other the does not, and on a larger, more existential level.

MORE: Goodbye, jersey tucks | Goalie wants even smaller pads

"It's so wishy-washy," MacIntyre, who hadn't heard about the change until Wednesday, told Sporting News. "I can go and on and on about the shenanigans that I don't agree with."

And he's right, for at least one reason. The coupling of the rulesâ€”mandatory visors for all players entering the league, plus the helmet ruleâ€”is a clear attempt by the league to cut back on fighting without banning it outright. Years of concussion-research data will have that effect, as will the threat of class-action lawsuits. If everyone wears a visor and nobody can take it off for a fight, the logical progression is fewer fights.

There's a loophole, though, and Deryk Engelland has noticed it. He's a legitimate NHL defenseman who theoretically adds to his value by fighting people.

"Eventually you'll start seeing guys come in (and) take each others' off and not really waste any time," Engelland told SN.

"It's still gonna happen. I think the guy that has the visor on might just come in and start throwing, and he might have a little bit of an advantage. But they pop off pretty easy, and the visor doesn't really hurt too bad."

That's actually by design of the NHLPA. The union wants to protect the role of the fighterâ€”guys like MacIntyre, specificallyâ€”which is why the penalty for taking off helmets is minimal and will be, according to Engelland, mutual in most cases.

It's not quite that simple, though. MacIntyre called it "the age-old question." Fighting is, for better or worse, part of hockey. It's an even bigger part of MacIntyre's identity. And to go back to our logical progression, fewer fights leads to fewer fighters. For guys like MacIntyre, the issue is personal, and understandably so.

"(Anti-fighting advocates) never been in our shoes," MacIntyre said. "They've never played the way we play. They've never done the things that we've done. But they're the first guys to jump on the bandwagon and (say), 'Oh, well, these guys are useless,' or 'They're goons and thugs.' "

In MacIntyre's eyesâ€”and the eyes of his teammatesâ€”he serves a purpose. It's less tangible than it used to be, for certain. What's not in doubt, though, is how difficult the job can be, and the toll it takes it on the guys who fill it. It's impossible to talk (or think) about fighting in hockey without mentioning Derek Boogaard, who died in 2011 after a battle with prescription drugs that started as a means of treating injuries stemming from fights.

It was a tough road, too, for MacIntyre, who started his junior career in the now-defunct CEHL. After that league banned him for his role in a nasty brawl, he played in the UHL before hooking on with the New York Rangers organization in 2003. He spent time in the WHA2, ECHL, AHL and UHL (again) before making his NHL debut in 2008 with the Edmonton Oilers. He was there because of his fists.

"I know what's gotten me here. Guys have asked me if I could change it. You know what, probably not. I'd be a different guy. If I came up a different way, I might not be here," MacIntyre said.

Now 33 years old, the 6-5, 270-pound Saskatchewan native generally bides his time with Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Remember those 270 NHL games? He's played 13 of them in the last two seasons, and whether he returns is an open question. At the moment, it seems less than likely.

That underlying reality makes its way, deliberately or not, into most conversations you could have about him. Engelland's true worth is as a blue liner. MacIntyre has to make himself valuable in other ways.

"Mac's a great guy," Penguins center Joe Vitale, a teammate of McIntyre's in both Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh, told SN. "I don't think he would last as long in this league if he didn't have the other element of being a good locker-room guy, a good off-ice guy. He's full-package when it comes to that."

Guys like Vitale will also talk about the diversionary role MacIntyre plays. Whether it's logically true or not is debatableâ€”the instigator rule confined fights, in almost all cases, to fighters. But the players believe, and so do many front-office executives. The Toronto Maple Leafs, on some nights this season, will ice two fighters. The Edmonton Oilers, run by the generally progressive Craig MacTavish, are in the market for one.

"You've got Steve MacIntyre in the lineup? He literally makes every other player feel more comfortable on the ice," Vitale said. "Not just (Sidney Crosby). When I'm playing with him, I feel like I can do anything."

But the pendulum is still swinging in the opposite direction. Science doesn't lie, and neither does the NHL rulebook. What makes it tough, though, is that jobs, livelihoods, identities are at stake. That doesn't change what's right, or what's smartâ€”it just makes it more difficult.

It's easy to laugh at the old Brian Burke press conference, when he was forced to demote Colton Orr and talked about "rats" ruining the game. In context, though, Burke was just as upset at the prospect of getting rid of a good person.

Progress is difficult, though, and the overall goal is keeping guysâ€”good people, respected teammatesâ€”like MacIntyre safe. It has to be. Counterintuitively, that progress could well force those same people out of the game. Talking more about his role, MacIntyre picks an interesting analogy.

"That's the thing a lot of guys forget, everybody's a different cog in the wheel," he said. "Those cogs make up the gear, and that's what eventually runs the engine."

Eventually, though, it's time for a new car. That doesn't mean saying goodbye to the old one is easy.