You guys seem to be missing some key points here:
I'll start off by saying that I know very little about NHL players currently, and this guy is no exception. From what I've been reading though, this isn't exactly Mr. Humble or Mr. Nice Guy saying these comments. It seems to be that he is Mr. @sshole, so he has a record of going off at the mouth. If you have a bad track record, when stuff like this goes down you're going to get a more harsh punishment (unless you're a REALLY great player, and it doesn't look like this guy is the 2nd coming of Gretzky.)
The other main point is that this comment had NOTHING to do with hockey. If he had said that this other player skated like a f*g, that would be one thing. There he's addressing a hockey player directly about his performance on the ice. This is something completely unrelated to hockey, and it makes him sound like he's BETTER than all other NHL players, and that anyone who is not involved in his life anymore (in this case his ex gf) is just trash.
If anything, the NHL may be doing this guy a favor. As many enemies this guy had before, that number has been increased greatly and I doubt he made any converts on his own team with these comments. By making this guy sit out for a week, maybe things can die down a bit and people won't be gunning for him extra hard.
Fact is, what he did goes beyond classless. It goes into pompous, classless, and stupid. Such behavior deserves punishment if you're a public figure. Imagine if someone said something like this about you and the person you're with. Assuming you can't go and beat the hell out of him, wouldn't you expect some sort of retribution or governance thrown down by someone on your behalf?