If a hit is legal, then by definition it has to be considered clean. I believe
Reid Simpson hit the nail on the head. Yeah it (Phaneuf's hit) was legal. So yeah, it was clean. But, that doesn't exclude him from retaliation. Players should protect their teammates. If you want to label a guy like that, then go for it. It's part of the game. But if you do label a guy like that, be prepared to answer for it. That's also part of the game. If you're not willing to deal with the consequences, don't hit the guy like that. Or go play football. Remember when
Jordin Tootoo hit Modano(clean I might add) and Robidas came in to go after Tootoo? Tootoo knew someone would be coming so he turned right away and looked for it. He saw Robidas coming and, knowing if he hadn't turned and saw Robidas coming there would have been no mercy, he laid out Robidas. He laid a clean hit, expected retaliation, and dealt with it. That's hockey. Get used to it, or, like I said earlier, go play football. Don't try and change a great sport into basketball on ice.