Tough is one thing. Intent to injure is quite another.
I've not seen proof there was or is intent to injure,
Right, the Sarrich hit on Marleau was just incidental contact, I suppose?
And later in the series, a Calgary goon took out Brian Cambell's knee so he could no longer out-skate nearly anyone on Calgary's team.
but even if it does exist, it is a symptom of our society. We demand blood.
Would that be Canadian society? Or, world wide society? (sorry, cheap shot...) But, I do notice a distinct tendency toward skill over punishment by the European or Russian players over the Canadian players.
We in the twilight of our culture and professional hockey players are merely the gladiators of our time.
Today's technology has the means to fulfill base desires through fantasy, which many people can differentiate from reality.
The whole gladiator thing was devised as a distraction to the disenfranchised populace, away from political and governmental focus, and emphasized the individual as meaningless, thereby raising the status of the emperor, senate, upper class, etc. and feeding the baser instincts of the human condition much like modern marketing does. I don't like either. And, reject both. I watch and enjoy Hockey to see the individual achievements within the team sport.
How successful do you think Gretzky would have been had the opposing team took out his knee during the early rounds of the playoffs?
Ron Wilson's mistake was to not let Shelby be the Semenko of the old days, I suppose. So, if Shelby had taken out Iginla's, Phanuff's, or Nolan's knee, you'd be ok with that, eh? I wouldn't.
BTW, over half the NHL players are Canadian, maybe the Sharks should sign more than 12 so as to be competitive. 
If the Sharks aren't competitive, what does that make Calgary-out-in-the-first-round-7th-for-the-season?
Most of the class players left in the Calgary organization are those who were former Sharks. 
Old time Hockey is differentiated from modern hockey by the higher level of skill and conditioning absent in "old time Hockey". It is far more popular because of the higher level of skill required of today's game. If you remove the skill players and replace them with goons, it will once again be as popular as it was in the old time hockey days of six teams and near obscurity with the populace at large.
The NHL already began to make rule changes that allowed the skill players to show their stuff, negating the clutch and grab style of "old time hockey". Why they don't strictly enforce those same rules during the playoffs, and allow the skill players to survive, is beyond me.
If beating someone till they bleed is really preferred over a skating/passing/scoring-finesse sequence, then I'm done with Hockey.
Cheers,
