Royston, don't take this the wrong way, but... you sound like an American!!!
Fox introduced a blue halo around the puck in the late 90s. We Canucks flipped out at the Americanization of "our" sport.
It would be kind of like having an American station broadcasting "soccer" matches in the UK. I bet you all would have a fit!
Anyway it is true that teams hire goons for the sole purpose of beating each other up and, occasionally, also for protecting star players.
These days there are no star players left, so the goons just have at each other. Sometimes they also smash people from behind and then plead "not guilty" in court to assault charges. And everyone in your hometown debates whether the good that player has done for the franchise outweighs his brutal assault.
Yeah it was a boring hockey game yesterday, players were too timid with the puck, but at least the passing was amazing.