See you later, instigator

The NHL's general managers met for three days in Naples, Fla., last week, and their most substantive decision was to recommend a change in the dreaded instigator penalty.

Provided the league's Board of Governors attaches its rubber stamp, players next season will not be suspended until they have been tagged with a fifth instigator penalty. For the remainder of 2006-07, players will be governed by the current standard, which calls for a suspension as of the third infraction.

"I supported it," said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. "I don't think we want to completely eliminate the side of self-policing that exists in the game."

The GMs will suggest to the board that the rest of the standard, pertaining to minutes served in the penalty box, will remain the same. To wit: If a player were to "run the table" as an instigator, he could be sent to the box for 19 minutes, including two minutes each for instigating and wearing a visor, as well as a five-minute major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.

Any more punitive, and a player might also be handed a court date to have alimony payments increased and visiting rights amended. And people wonder what's happened to the emotion in the game. With such inhibitors in place, emotions often don't reach the simmer level, never mind the boiling point.