Carkner’s borderline assault on Boyle; Asham’s crosscheck; and Weber (who basically “Bertuzzi’d” Zetterberg into the boards) are all significantly worse than Torres’ hit. At least with Torres’ hit one could make an argument that he made a ‘hockey play’ (albeit a late hockey play).  How could any of those first three defend their actions with anything other than the Clowe/Canadian Media defense (aka, the “I just wanna win so badly” defense).

This inconsistency is gonna start to compromise the integrity of the game if the NHL doesn’t make a decision about whether it wants to protect its work force.  Obviously, it should, but the double standards that have plagued the league all year (‘fighting with a visor’ anyone?) are even worse then if Bettman just made a statement, ‘go ahead and crosscheck each other in the head. We don’t care unless you’re targeting a star who plays in Canada, the Northeast, or Chicago.”  As ludicrous as that statement appears, at least it’s clear.