Completely unacceptable. I know Steve Downie's in preseason trying to win a role, but he deserves a sizable suspension for trying to take off a guy's head like that.

Here's hoping Dean McAmmond is all right, as he has a concussion history and at age 34, could be in a position where he has to hang them up.

• If you missed it, Eric McErlain had a nice piece on the concussion discussion earlier this week at FanHouse
  
  
• Thanks to a reader for sending in a link to this video of Colin Campbell outlining the rule enforcement for the 2007-08 season

UPDATE I'm afraid there's not all that much more to say than that. I'm frankly growing tired of the fact that providing daily NHL coverage consists of an almost weekly guess-the-suspension-length game, something that really should be more like clockwork than a random judgement based on Colin Campbell's whim of the day. Too many players are having their careers ended unnecessarily, and the fact this particular hit occurred during preseason, in my mind, makes it all the more unnecessary, all the more careless and worthy of punishment.

The venerable Al Maki's calling for a 40-game ban over at Globe on Hockey, and while there's no way on earth that's what's coming, I say 'why not?' Why not throw the book at guys for being careless, why not finally try and institute some sort of deterrent that actually, you know, deters?

McAmmond's one of hockey's good guys, a hard-working veteran and father of four, someone who simply doesn't deserve this. And another piddly four- or five-game suspension to Downie just doesn't get that across.
.