A lot of attention has been focussed on the hit New Jersey Devils enforcer Cam Janssen laid on Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle on Friday night.

Janssen leveled Kaberle with a blind side hit, resulting in Kaberle's head striking both the boards and then the ice, leaving him in a crumpled heap. He left the ice on a stretcher and spent the night in hospital, where as of this writing it's yet to be determined the seriousness of his injuries.

There's a considerable debate going on as to whether or not it was a clean hit by Janssen. Those supportive of the Devils forward compared it to former Devils great Scott Stevens' bone-crushing hits on Eric Lindros, Ron Francis and Paul Kariya.

Some remind Leafs fans angry over Janssen's action that former Leafs goon Tie Domi leveled former Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer with a cheap shot in the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Follow this link for a video of the hit on Youtube, complete with a slow-motion replay.

First of all, Janssen hit Kaberle well after the Leafs blueliner had passed away the puck. Janssen, instead of peeling off as the play moved up ice, skated directly for Kaberle as the Leafs d-man was skating backwards, watching the play move up ice while in the process of turning up ice.

Kaberle wasn't admiring his pretty pass or looking down. He was following the play, with his head up, but Janssen was on Kaberle's blind side. Janssen could've peeled away as the play was no longer at that end of the ice and Kaberle was no longer part of the play. At the very least, he could've eased off.

Instead, Janssen angled himself toward Kaberle and nailed him with his left shoulder into the side of Kaberle's head. Moreover, the slo-mo replay clearly shows that Janssen left his feet to deliver the blow. It wasn't a shoulder on shoulder check he was going for. Janssen saw he had Kaberle in a vulnerable position, and went for the head-shot.

Before I proceed, let me state that I'm not a Leafs fan or Kaberle fan, I actually admire the New Jersey Devils franchise and I'm no bleeding heart who wants the league to ban bodychecking.

This was a dirty hit, a cheapshot, plain and simple.

There's been a growing lack of respect between NHL players in recent years. We've seen an increase in head trauma injuries, partially to do with equipment, but mostly due to deliberate attempts to injure.

It's one thing to deliver a clean, hard bodycheck. It's another to go headhunting, and as evidenced in the video replays, that's what Janssen did.

He claims he was "finishing his check", but that's a lame, BS excuse. There was no check to finish, because the play had already turned well up ice when Janssen angled toward Kaberle.

Had Kaberle still been in possession of the puck, or had just passed it away when Janssen lined up Kaberle, that would've been "finishing his check". If he'd kept his skates on the ice and hit Kaberle shoulder to shoulder, or in the chest, that would've made it a clean hit.

If he'd lined up Kaberle and the latter lowered his head at the last moment, Janssen would've been absolved of blame.

None of those things happened. Janssen picked his spot and went for it. It wasn't a clean hit. It was a brutal cheapshot.

I realize hockey's a rough game. I never played it professionally but played enough of it to understand it's a rough game and carry the permanent reminders on my body.

Bodychecking always has a place in hockey, and sometimes injuries can be an unfortunate consequence. Everyone who plays the game at any level understands it and has no problem with it.

Cheapshots,however, have no place in the game, and neither do players like Janssen who deliberately attempt to hurt an opponent.