Is this it?

So Todd Bertuzzi gets a minimum 17 game suspension for breaking Colorado's Steve Moore's neck, with additional time to be determined prior to the start of the next season. I think it's a decent amount, but the league missed a chance to send a real message by suspending him for next season as well. Either way, Moore still lies in a hospital bed and, chances are, this isn't the last time we see something like this.

Y'know, much has been made of the current climate in the NHL and the lack of respect players show towards one another's' well-being. Seems to me this is simply an extension of the culture of violence that exists in the game, at nearly every level. While Don Cherry might say otherwise, its a short trip from sanctioned violence (fighting, hitting etc.) to the kind of crap we see today. And it's making the game into a joke. I saw the clip of the mugging on CNN yesterday, which is probably the first time hockey and the NHL have ever been mentioned on that network, while the Times of London had hockey on its list of 10 Most Overrated Things In Sport (this from a country that brought the world cricket and public school sodomy? Whatever.) This incident is not the kind of exposure the league needs. Something's gotta give. The league needs to make changes, not just to protect players, but to improve the game itself.

(1) Fighting: hockey is the only sport that tolerates physical violence between participants. And as much I, as a red-blooded Canadian, enjoy watching a good tilt, the fact it, fighting makes the game look like a joke. Ban it. You drop the flippers, you're gone for the rest of the game and get an automatic game suspension and fine to boot.

(2) Think eliminating fighting will lead to more stickwork? Get tough on that too. High sticking penalties should be an automatic 5, 5 and a game if blood is drawn, but the hit was accidental, 5, a game and a one game suspension for intentional high sticking.

(3) Protect the melon: the head has become a target. The NFL has rules protecting players' heads. So too should the NHL. Make shots to the head (be it with shoulder, elbow, forearm, whatever) a penalty, maybe even a major. Hell, make boarding, kneeing, hits from behind majors as well.

(4) Four on four, all the time. Fewer players=more room=less contact=less chance of shit hitting the fan.

Those would be a good start, but the bottom line is , major changes are required, if not to shed the game's thuggish profile, but at least to ensure the next time a player goes down in a heap, he doesn't leave the rink in a hearse.