I'm hating on hockey because I'm a native Houstonian and don't care about it. But, yeah, I say it's not all on him because the governing bodies had ample opportunities to ban this kid, and they didn't. It's THEY'RE fault. The kid is a schmuck, but the governing bodies are still irresponsibly hypocrites.
That should be a lifetime ban. What if this elbow had caused irreversible damage or death? If death, then he should be sentenced to prison on murder charges. This is just brutality here...
For not caring about hockey? Ignorant would be incorrect -- I've gone to hockey games and really tried to get into it. My dad's from Philly; I followed the Flyers pretty closely for a while (hell, I even had a Lindros jersey shirt). I just never really saw the point. Or am I ignorant from believing that governing bodies of JUNIOR SPORTS should be responsible for the actions of the MINORS playing them? What if this had been little league baseball? Or an AAU juniors thing? Replace hockey with any sport in America. They are responsible for the (legal) kids playing those games.