Here's my take on the Laf hit. When I saw it in real time I was questioning how the heck he delivered so much force in that situation. I went back and slowed it down and realized why.
Laf went in for the hit to dislodge the puck from an upright player who would have likely withstood most of the hit. Here he had him lined up, within the opponents frame of view.
However a split second after, the player lost a bit of control of the puck and tried to reach for it, bending over, not knowing Laf had lined him up for a hit. This put him in a more vulnerable spot when the hit connected:
It's similar to when a player turns at the last second to face the boards which is deemed an acceptable hit by NHL standards.
Unlike Rempe's first hit ejection against the Devils where the player was already somewhat engaged with a Ranger and was low and reaching for the puck well before Rempe made contact giving Matt time to ease up, here I feel it was a last second move, jmo of course