I thought Liam Reddox was dead.

Watching the Oilers forward crumple to the ice in a frozen, listless pile of humanity, my mind flashed to two players: Travis Roy and Kevin Everett. In Everett's case, my initial thought at Ralph Wilson Stadium was that I had seen someone die. Luckily, the story became a tale of rising above potential tragedy thanks to smart medical maneuvering, the human will and the power of hope.

If you're unfamiliar or forgot about Roy's case, the Boston University forward went into the boards awkwardly on his first-ever college shift in 1995, and suffered an injury that left him a paraplegic. In 14 years, he's gained use of his right arm, and not much more.

I point both those stories out because neither had a culprit, but both ended in a career-ending injury because the head went into something almost solid with great force, yielding irreparable damage. This has a culprit. When MacArthur put his elbow on the back of an off-balance Reddox to push him into the boards, it wasn't in order to "lay him out," but that doesn't matter. He was the reason Reddox is hurt. That play happens all the time, and the league can use the scary situation to stop it from happening as often.

Being harsh on hits from behind won't take any animosity or toughness out of the game, save for the look of bloody murder a player feels when he gets hit from behind. These aren't the "blind side" hits that have hockey pundits debating the merits and minuses of aggressive hitting; these are mindless, unsafe plays that could easily be curbed. I'm not saying put stop signs above the name on the jersey like so many pee-wee leagues, but a mental stop sign would help.

When I was a terrible hockey player growing up, I know for a fact that myself and other players would turn at the last second to make a hit coming from behind happen. You braced for impact with your stick, because you a knew a "two-and-ten" would happen to the other team. Power play time. Hooray. It's not my proudest moment admitting that, but I bet thousands and thousands of folks who've played ice hockey would admit the same.

So, no, MacArthur wasn't trying to hurt Reddox. Reddox had good position, and MacArthur attemped to get to the puck the best way he knew. Not to mention, MacArthur immediately sprung up when he realized Reddox was hurt, and kept looking back at the fallen player during the entire skate to the dressing room.

I guarantee that play alone will be enough to give MacArthur a little caution the next time he's taking a player to the boards from behind, but it won't serve the rest of the league much. If the NHL tells MacArthur to stay home for a game or two -- and nothing more -- the message will be better sent.

Now, if we can just get Thomas Vanek to see how horrible his dive looked -- you could tell he doesn't do it often. Yeesh -- and Patrick Kaleta to stop grabbing a guy's stick with two hands and doing a reverse wrestling take down that earns Buffalo a power play. Seriously, if I were Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert, I would've punched Kaleta right in the face for that move. Pat's really good at his job, but you don't have to love it every time. At some point, it starts to hurt you