I don't know. I would respect him more if he hadn't said his intent is to injure when he hits someone. I don't have much respect for players who go out of their way to injure others.
I like players to be really physical and everything. But the intent should never be to injure your opponent. To take him out of the play, make him lose his breath, send him flying on the ice, but always hope the guy is going to get up. I don't know, I get the feeling the guy likes it when he lays a hit and his opponent stays on the ice.
And oh by the way it has got nothing to do with him being american, canadian, russian, whatever. I could really care less.
And for the record I don't like those shoulder to the chin hits. The ones Stevens has laid on Kariya, Francis, Lindros, Phaneuf on Olesz, etc. Those hits are perfectly legal, but should be outlawed IMO. But then again there's the issue of guys always skating with their head down to avoid being hit. But that's for another debate.