I’ve been under the weather the past couple of days but one thing I have been following, and waiting until I could hold down my lunch long enough to comment on, are two events that I think show that the NHL really has not gotten serious about the issue of players that take liberties on other players and leave serious injuries in their wake. Yeah, yeah … I know. Every year we hear rumors about how the NHL is going to get serious about dangerous hits. Yadda yadda.

But the truth? The truth is that this claim that NHL is going to lay down the law when it comes to dangerous hits that leave players injured is like rumors that someone has found solid evidence that Big Foot is real. It makes great for great press but it about as trustworthy as the later.

We are coming off two serious incidents. Tuomo Ruutu (brother of ex-Penguins Jarko Ruutu) boarded Darcy Tucker and Mike Richards leveled David Booth with a shoulder to the noggin. I’ve watched the videos and while the Ruutu hit could be considered marginal (Tucker put himself in a vulnerable position but that still does not excuse Ruutu) I still believe that he should have realized the vulnerable position Tucker was in and acted accordingly and not run him into the boards. The Richards hit however was an intentional lead with the shoulder. He saw Booth was in a vulnerable position and he purposely went after his head with his shoulder.

And the result of these two most recent examples of the NHL’s new “tougher” stance on dirty play? Richards played in the Panthers Sunday loss to the Sharks and Ruutu gets a three games suspension. As for the victims? Tucker is down and out indefinitely and Booth … well no one knows quite yet except to say that he will be out for at least a week.

Listen, I understand how fast hockey is. I understand that these are big guys out there and that when they get to moving it is sometimes tough to get them to stopping. I also understand that sometimes accidents with sticks happen. But year after year the NHL does nothing to really curtail the most egregious incidents of dirty play that border on goonism.

The NHL needs to take some simple steps to curtain these sorts of incidents. The first is that the NHL, subject to a review of the incident, needs to automatically suspend the player guilty of the infraction indefinitely until the injured player returns. Without pay. And without a giving a damn about the NHLPA and their thoughts on the matter.

I know the concept of allowing the league to review each incident and make a decision is bound to be unpopular. The league already comes under fire every year for showing favorability to its higher profile players and the first time one of them was found “no guilty” for some hit or another there would be an outcry. But you cannot treat the true accidental hit or marginal hit when fighting for a puck or when the victim puts himself in a vulnerable position at the last instance the same as the guy that tracks his prey down and takes a run at him.

Hitting is part of hockey. It should remain as such. But the safety of the players also needs to be considered. And if hits that knock a player out for months warrant a suspension of just a few games then there really is not much incentive to play a little more caution and with a care for your fellow players.