Perhaps the most interesting  story this week came from Atlanta, where new Thrashers forward Keith Tkachuk complained that the game is getting dirty again.

“I think guys are taking a little more liberties now whereas years ago you had to be held accountable,” Tkachuk said on a conference call Wednesday. “Now with more and more players coming in there’s a lot of guys who aren’t accountable. It’s not fair. You want to go out and do something but you can’t because you’re worried about the consequences.

“We all have to be a little more careful and have a little more respect for each other.

“That being said, if it’s legal to go out and finish a guy I don’t care who he is, if he’s a star player and it’s a clean hit, that’s what you have to do to win. There’s a fine line there and I think it’s been crossed way too much this year.”

Back in the good old (Chuck) Norris Division, star players were routinely menaced by agitators and goons on the other side.  Teammates rallied to the aid of the stars and high jinks  ensued.

The instigator penalty eliminated all that, which is why we’ve  seen campaigns to eliminate that penalty to that the NHL’s thugs and miscreants could be held accountable by other thugs and miscreants.

For instance, Predators agitator Jordan Tootoo would have had a busy dance card in the old days. Not only did he run Stars stalwart Mike Modano, he laid out Stephane Robidas when the big Dallas defenseman tried to run him back.

“A lot of the tough guys who were part of that league to kind of eliminate those guys, there’s not many of them left in the game,” Modano said on a conference call earlier this week. “The game has changed, coaches find it hard to coach those guys. The type of game that’s played out there now is faster and quicker. Those guys are valuable. They were obviously valuable to my career early on and still to this day.

“So, yeah, you need to get a rule and it’s something that’s been talked about in that situation, too. But when you get players like (Tootoo) who can play the game a little bit and be a pest and hit the body and be physical and tough, you can never have enough of those guys.

“But still, you need (tough) guys to kind of settle the situation down if it gets a little too crazy.”
Yapping,  like  what the Blues heard from the Wild Thursday night, was also policed on the ice. Those were the glory days of the game, no?

Down the stretch of this season, we’ve seen an uptick in brawling — instigator rule be darned. Poor Todd Fedoruk knows this all too well, since  Rangers ruffian Colton Orr left him in a  chalk outline earlier this  week.

Some  observers decry such violence, although  we doubt that many of those whiners are season ticket holders to a NHL team.

AROUND THE RINKS:  It will be fun to watch the  Red Wings evolve as the playoffs near. Todd Bertuzzi is finally in the lineup and  Henrik Zetterberg should return next week. How will all the offensive pieces fall  together?  . . . Old friend Chris Pronger looks like he will play again  before the  playoffs start. The Ducks defenseman is sidelined with a broken foot . . . Edmonton isn’t thrilled to  have  back-to-back games with the Avalanche. Colorado drubbed them 5-1 Wednesday to run their its unbeaten streak to 10 games (9-0-1). The teams play again tonight . . . Down in Peoria, Mike Glumac is continuing  his push for a late-season NHL recall. He has 10 goals and 14 assists in 12 games this month.