The following is a list of six major developments in the past 24 hours after the decision by the NHL to not suspend Zdeno Chara for his hit on Max Pacioretty. As you read the list, contemplate this: how many of the next six developments would be happening if the NHL had paid at least lip service to the violence and given Chara a minimum or close to minimum suspension?

1. Geoff Molson writes a league-wide letter saying we have, in the NHL, reached a state of urgency. Molson challenges the commissioner as a new day dawns.

2. Air Canada contemplates pulling its sponsorship. Bettman remarks that he'll find another sponsor if Air Canada acts, thereby flipping the bird to his partners, inciting them even more to actually act on the threat.

3. A Facebook/Twitter campaign is on for a Tuesday rally at the Bell Centre to protest the suspension decision.

4. Police begin an investigation into the violent hit and contemplate if their own action is needed in lieu of an absence of action from the league's governing body.

5. Canadian Parliament discusses violence in hockey yet again.

6. Gary Bettman, in front of congress Thursday to sell the game in the U.S., ends up defending the violent nature of the game and somehow describes the concussions and violence, as the players' falling. That's right!. The world's best players keep losing an edge.

Al right, you have just read the list. What is your call?

I believe that not one of the six major news items on the agenda today is gaining traction if the league policed Chara with a two game suspension: the Facebook community would have rested with that two gamer. Geoff Molson would not have had to follow up Pierre Gauthier's lack of a response with his appeal that the Habs are going to address this urgent situation. Air Canada, I believe, would have let the issue rest, if the NHL could have shown just one iota of interest in protecting its own. Police were inundated with calls last night because fans were frustrated and they would not have felt that frustration with a suspension, even a small one.

And Bettman, I don't even have enough time in my day to address the long list of mistakes he has made this week. From "we can always find another carrier" to "the players are accidentally falling." This might have been the day Bettman has been most exposed as a basketball exec in a Sarah Palin-style during his entire tenure as head of the NHL. Winnipeg and Quebec await their turn to fill up buildings, while Phoenix struggles to care and 3000 people watch Panthers games. As they say, don't get me started.

And because we have a list of six major developments today, there is a developing list that is the most dangerous of all: players knowing they need to take things into their own hands in matters of retribution. And in the Chara example, the Habs cannot fight the man and win that battle, for their shoulders are not broad enough, nor their legs long enough, so how do they seek their revenge when the league will not conduct it for them? Will they attempt to smash his face against the glass? Do they skate across his arm accidently to get even? Would the league rule it a "hockey play?" All across the world, whether it is in sports or in life, if the world does not provide justice for you, then you seek justice yourselves. It is as inherent in human nature as any other trait.

It is my hope that in an NHL where justice prevails only when players take it into their own account, that the head coach of the Habs, Jacques Martin, is as level headed as he always has been as a leader in this league and advises his men that the only way to get even is to take two points from the Boston Bruins on March 24th. I fear that this is much easier to say to his men, then it is for the men to execute the advice.

It is a state of disgrace that could that have been averted. And as always, this backwards league has only itself to blame. It is beyond Zdeno Chara now, and on to every player who feels comfortable to follow his lead.