The League needs to step up with the PA and demonstrate/stand firm that it doesn’t matter if you’re popular, who your agent is, who your GM is, where you played junior or college and whether or not you’ve been nominated for an NHL Award: If you behave like an animal on the ice you’ll be disciplined. But as I have said before, I think disciplining individual players has proven futile. It’s gotten to the point whereby unless entire teams are disciplined – thus, held accountable – for loose cannon blunders, nothing’s going to change anytime soon. This is why I think points should be taken from teams whose players have instigated/engaged in fights and have inflicted illegal hits. If both teams are equally responsible (as was the case recently with PHI-PIT), both teams should lose 2 points. During the playoffs, this system would be modified such that games would taken from teams instead of points.

If you play like a loser, you lose. You lose points. You lose games. Why? Because you’re a loser. Plain and simple. If players can’t keep their problem teammates under control, they can confront coaches and implore that these players not be inserted into lineups. If that doesn’t work, then they can go to their GMs and politely ask why liability players like this were scouted/drafted/acquired in the first place? Franchises will finally make it a priority to rehabilitate or demote problem players – better yet, don’t even look at them in the first place. And the PA won’t be able to say that certain players are always being picked on, fined, suspended, etc. If the whole team (organization, coaching staff, players) is collectively held accountable, they can’t scream that players are being picked on. It’s everybody’s responsibility to play responsibly. Right?

Ultimately, the only message players really understand and care about is winning and losing. If you take away their wins and prevent them from advancing in their quest for the Cup, you can be sure they’ll get the message. Loud and clear.