John Tortorella's news conference Wednesday night featured few questions and fewer answers. Do you find this entertaining or cringe-inducing?

• DrMcTigue: "Tortorella has absolutely no class. He whines about the zebras win or lose, and when things don't go his way he takes his ball and goes home like a spoiled child."
• Mad City Mike: "Part of your job as an NHL coach is to PARTICIPATE in press conferences. The fact that the league and even your own team is allowing this childish behavior boggles my mind."
• goredsox107: "Am I the only one that loves this? It's refreshing to not have to deal with the usual press conference, and it's not like it's hurting the Rangers or creating controversies or anything. It's literally just an uncomfortably silent room for some media members before/after each game. Also it's hilarious."
• gus johnson: "It truly is an insult to all of the coaches past and present who have, according to the job title, acted reasonable with the media, even when they didn't want to."
• OneDaySale: "as a Rangers fan, I love the guy. He gets the absolute most out of his team; he has them in great shape; he is tough, but tough on everyone (see Gaborik)."
• sykotackler31894: "Personally, seeing Torts completely blow off the media makes my indescribably happy."

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Raffi Torres is the latest player to be suspended by the NHL. His offense, a hit to the head of Marian Hossa; his punishment, a 25-game suspension. Earlier in the playoffs, Shea Weber was fined $2,500 but won't miss any playing time for slamming Henrik Zetterberg's head against the glass. What's your take on penalties handed out during the NHL playoffs?

• phisportsfan: "There has been absolutely NO consistency with these suspensions....
  Neal - 1 game after 2 head hunting hits Weber - Nothing for slamming a head into the wall Torres - Harder hit than Neal's but definitely not 25 times harder... Neal should have been given 3-4 games for those TWO hits"
• PensAndPirates2: "25 games? Really?!?! I think this is just backlash for the mediocre refs. He should have gotten 10 games"
• pacer3011: "Holy Crap! I didn't see 25 coming. I think what he did was despicable but I think 25 games during the playoffs is excessive, and I'm a 'Hawks fan.
  I think the NHL is putting WAY too much emphasis on the end result of a hit, not the intent or how dirty it was. How else do you explain Shea Weber getting off with a slap on the wrist while Torres gets this since Hossa was carted off the ice?"
• tempdaddy05: "So the same hit by James Neal got him one game? Why because Sean didn't go off on a stretcher. Get out of here this league is a joke."
• CanadienBeavers: "Good. Now everyone else needs to take notice. You target the head or someone without the puck and you are gone for a quarter of the season."
• matthew orenstein: "The hit was a disgrace, but that should have been 5-10 if shea got nothing. Its just because Hossa was hurt. Someone needs to tell shanahan he can't regulate whether a guy gets hurt or not all he can do is suspend on intent."



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It seems that we can't go one game without a scary, controversial hit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Marian Hossa was the recipient of one such hit from Marian Hossa on Tuesday night -- a hit so painful that it sent him to the hospital, although he was released Wednesday. Hitting has been a part of hockey for ages, but with the recent spate of crushing hits in high-profile games, might there be a change in the sport's future?

What do you make of Raffi Torres' hit on Marian Hossa in Tuesday night's game?

•  
  26%
  Clean
•  
  74%
  Dirty

(Total votes: 132,436)

What do you make of the level of hitting in the NHL playoffs this year?

•  
  66%
  Improves the game
•  
  34%
  Detracts from the game

(Total votes: 51,161)

What's your take on the NHL's approach to player safety?

•  
  13%
  Overly sufficient
•  
  50%
  Sufficient
•  
  37%
  Insufficient

(Total votes: 10,524)

Was Monday's showdown between the Bruins and Penguins a preview of the Eastern Conference finals? Under the NHL's proposed realignment, this may be the last season in which we get to ask that. The NHL wants to replace six divisions with four conferences. The top four teams in each conference would make the playoffs, with the first two rounds composed of intraconference matchups. Confused yet? Scott Burnside explains.

• "As long as the Wings are playing under the old Norris Division name I'll be happy with this new set up." -- SN commenter mngmikes
• "The only people complaining are the idiots in the East that want to keep their unfair advantage of rarely having to travel outside their time zone. The new format creates relatively equal amounts of travel for everybody, what's not to like about it?" -- SN commenter The_Real_Good_Guy_Greg

What is better for the NHL?

•  
  63%
  Realigning into four conferences
•  
  37%
  Swapping Jets for Red Wings or Blue Jackets and keeping current alignment

(Total votes: 6,500)

How should the NHL name its four proposed conferences under realignment?

•  
  40%
  Geographic names
•  
  24%
  Bring back Adams, Patrick, Norris and Smythe
•  
  25%
  Names to honor greats like Gretzky, Lemieux, etc.
•  
  10%
  Something else

(Total votes: 44,589)

What should happen in the third round of the playoffs?

•  
  71%
  Reseed based on regular-season record (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3)
•  
  29%
  Have predetermined matchups (Conference A vs. Conference B, etc.)

(Total votes: 5,902)

Which conference is strongest?

•  
  10%
  Ducks, Flames, Avalanche, Oilers, Kings, Coyotes, Sharks, Canucks
•  
  29%
  Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Stars, Red Wings, Wild, Predators, Blues, Jets
•  
  16%
  Bruins, Panthers, Sabres, Canadiens, Senators, Lightning, Maple Leafs
•  
  44%
  Hurricanes, Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, Capitals

(Total votes: 6,329)