Interesting article by Al Strachan on suspensions in NHL.
Here's the link to the full article FOX Sports - NHL - Time for NHL to rethink suspensions

Here is the exerpt from it:


Hockey is a rough sport. It always has been and it should stay that way. To take out the gratuitous violence without taking out the inherent heavy hitting is not as easy as it sounds. But the way the game is going, the league has no choice but to try.
They may deny it, but there are players out there who are definitely trying to injure their opponents.
The presence of a puck is not a factor in their game. And they don't waste time injuring plumbers like themselves. They go after the stars.
Stiffer suspensions might work. But the evidence is against it.
Perhaps it's time to try a radical idea. If Brad May takes out the Wild's best defenseman with a move that was clearly a flagrant transgression of the rules, then don't sit out Brad May. Sit out Chris Pronger or Scott Niedermayer. The Wild lost a top-flight D-man. Now, so did the Ducks.
Suddenly, these coaches and general managers who publicly decry the head-hunting but secretly applaud it might change their minds.
Granted, it would take a lot of wisdom from the NHL's judicial department and so, as has been suggested before, perhaps the process should be turned over to a committee.
But this much is clear. Injuries as a result of intentional violence are increasing, and the suspensions aren't doing anything to change that fact. It's time for a radical mind-shift before there's a really serious incident — one that ends up with more than an injured player to worry about.