Jim Rutherford has had enough of opponents going after Sidney Crosby with cheap shots and he plans to add some toughness to his roster next season to end the trend.

The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager said Sunday the league must make changes to protect to star players from getting "abused."

“I hear year after year how the league and everyone loves how the Penguins play,” Rutherford told the Hockey News. “'They play pure hockey and they skate.’ Well, now it’s going to have to change and I feel bad about it, but it’s the only way we can do it. We’re going to have to get one or two guys…and some of these games that should be just good hockey games will turn into a (expletive) show. We’ll go right back to where we were in the ’70s and it’s really a shame.”

“The league has got to fix it,” Rutherford said. “In other leagues, they protect star players. In basketball, they don’t let their top players get abused.

"And in our league, well the thing I keep hearing is, ‘that’s hockey. That’s hockey,’ No, it’s not.”

Crosby owns seven goals and 20 points through 18 playoff games this year. He has picked up just four minutes of penalties in the playoffs and said Sunday staying focused is the key to staying disciplined.

“Yeah, it’s a challenge,” Crosby told the Hockey News of being a target. “That’s the challenge of playing in the playoffs. I guess you understand that after going through different experiences…that’s the way it is. It’s not always easy to accept that, but at the end of the day, you have to and you can’t get caught up in it and ultimately it’s about winning games. Getting caught up in that and getting frustrated isn’t going to lead to winning games. That’s kind of my motivation as far as staying focused. You just can’t allow yourself to get too caught up in that regardless of how bad it gets. You just have to keep going.”

Crosby led the league in goals this season with 44, while taking just 24 minutes of penalties - his lowest mark in a season where he played more than 41 games.