Paul Stewart: Player Safety Part II: Being Part of the Problem or the Solution

Good read. No excuse to hit from behind or target the head. Wish everyone felt that way.

This is a complicated topic ana a hard one to solve. If I had to start somewhere or to point fingers I would blame the NHL when such plays are being reviewed. I think it's called the player safety commitee.

I feel if suspensions were at least double what they are it would go a long way to solve the problem. Players want to play, not sit suspended with no pay. Coaches would then also fall in line as they don't want their player not playing either as he is needed on the team.

Two plays that come to mind which happened within the past week or so was the hit at the end of the game on Van reimsdyck in the Montreal game. The NHL reviewed the play and decided to further penalty needed to be given. Against Vancouver the Kadri hit on one of the Sedins was to me a brutal hit, but again it was reviewed and no further penatly was given. If players were given 10 game suspensions for such actions you would soon see alot of dangerous hits gone.

We've gotten so far away from what's clean or not that a player has to fight after he lays a big, clean hit on a player just because that player is slow to get up. But yet on the really dirty ones the officials are so quick to jump in and break everything up.

Last night in the Sabres Flames game was very close to getting out of hand. There was nothing that was suspension worthy, but there were a few big hits, and a few times players wanted at each other, but the officials broke it up quickly, too quickly in my opinion, and it kept increasing in intensity every time there was a scrum. I understand breaking it up quickly the first time or two, but it happened 5 or 6 times. If that game was 4 periods it would've blown up, no doubt, and we'd have seen a line-brawl. It came very close to getting ugly after the final horn too.

The officials should just sit back and let them at each other, if they want to fight then get it over with instead of cheap shots in the scrums after the whistle, and if they're just barking at each other, then that'll stop too once they see they won't be held back.