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What I am about to write about is pretty controversial in the hockey world, and for those of you who are hard-core hockey fans, I just ask that you will hear me out on this topic. And I suppose the note you need to keep in mind while reading this is that I am NOT saying that all hitting needs to be taken out of the game. Thanks for listening; now, on to the fun stuff!

For those of you who missed Monday's Columbus Blue Jackets game against the Vancouver Canucks, Blue Jackets forward Jared Boll was hit from behind along the side boards and into the edge where the boards and glass meet by Darcy Hordichuk. Boll was actually originally hit by Rick Rypien when he was trying to get the puck out of Vancouver's offensive zone. This was totally acceptable and expected. However, immediately after Rypien hit Boll, Hordichuk hit Boll from behind where Boll was defenseless, elbowed him in the back of the head, and down the boards. Maybe it's just easier if you watch the hit for yourself - you can check it out here. Hordichuk was given a two minute trip to the penalty box and was eventually fined $2,500.

Now, Hordichuk is not the dirtiest player in the National Hockey League, but he is long way from winning the Lady Byng trophy for being the most gentlemanly player on the ice. If you were to classify Hordichuk as a player, he'd definitely fall into the enforcer category. So it isn't as if the hit was out of place for him, but it was still uncalled for with Rypien already hitting Boll.

As I mentioned earlier, Hordichuk was given a two minute penalty in the game, and was later fined $2,500, but was not suspended for any games. Do I think that he should have been suspended for the hit? I think it would have done some good if he would have been suspended for a few games. And I don't even say this as a Blue Jackets fan, but just a hockey fan concerned for the welfare of the players of the league. And in my opinion, a two minute penalty and a $2,500 fine is not going to make a man think about what he has done and stop him from wanting to do something similar to it again. Darcy Hordichuk makes $775,000 a season, and, being the complete nerd that I am, I decided to do the math to see how the fine he received translated to the average Joe's wallet. For a person who makes $50,000 a year, the $2,500 fine would translate into a $161.29 fine (based on the same percentage of income). That's less than a fine for a first DUI offense here in Ohio, and I see a lot of those yellow DUI plates around town. Obviously, that percentage of a fine is not enough to make someone think twice before doing something stupid for a second time.

This is all part of a bigger picture that really bothers me about hockey. I love the sport and I am as passionate as they come. However, the whole culture of violence perturbs me. There are few things that I can't stand more than hearing someone say "Well, he had his head down, so he deserved it" after a monsterous, injuring hit. I don't have a problem with checking in hockey to take someone out of the play - it's how the game is played. However, there are far too too many instances where a player will hit another player much harder than necessary to knock the man off the the puck. They are hitting to take the man out of the game altogether, and to me, that isn't cool.

It is the NHL's responsibility to protect their players, and they have done just the opposite. With the instigator rule, there has been a reduction in the number of fights (although not by enough to justify the rule). However, the problem that arises with the instigator rule is that players cannot retribute the action, and it tends to escalate the issue. To apply this to the Boll/Hordichuk situation I mentioned earlier, if there were no instigator rule, one of the Blue Jackets could have just gone and started fighting with Hordichuk. The players would fight, the fight would end, the players would go to the penalty box and serve their time. End of story. However, with the instigator rule in place, many players will not do this, because ultimately it will result in an instigator penalty, and their team will be down a man while he serves the penalty. There have been several instances where having the instigator penalty removed would have done a lot of good. The one that stands out most in my mind is the Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi incident. If the Canucks players could have paid retribution for the hit Moore had on Markus Naslund without fear of an instigator penalty, it would have never escalated the way it did, and Moore would have not lost his NHL career.

Another thing that the league could do to protect its players (but won't) is making a checking to the head rule. Basically, this rule would make players pay for making a deliberate hit to the head of an opponent. In a poll taken, 70% of 730 NHL players expressed a desire for there to be a headshot penalty. However, the NHL general managers say they don't have a desire to see this penalty to come into the league. There have been comments made that by making a checking to the head penalty, it will reduce the physicality of the game. And honestly, maybe it would for a short time while players adjust to not being able to hit in that way. But just because you make a checking to the head penalty does not mean that all physicality is gone. It seems to be a pretty common misconception. I mean, how many of the checks in hockey are checks to the head? Not a whole lot. And eliminating headchecks would probably have a very positive effect on the number of concussions suffered each season. The thing that bothers me the most about it is that the GM's seem to have no concern over the welfare of the players or an interest in what the players want when it is the players who are making the GM's fat paychecks.

Hopefully it does not take a player being so brutally injured, or even worse, dying on the ice before the league and general managers decide that they want to protect their assets.

Tags: columbus blue jackets, darcy hordichuk, instigator penalty, jared boll, steve moore, todd bertuzzi, vancouver canucks