It is NOT all about what protects the players. With or without fighting, hockey is a game where large strong men fly into each other wearing sharp blades on their feet and weilding sharpened sticks. The sport itself has inherent dangers, some of which are far worse than those brought on by fighting (see Clint Malarchuk, Richard Zednik, Trent McLeary, and many others). We must acknowledge that these dangers are risks that, while we hate to see their effects, we accept in order maintain the quality of the sport; in other words, to maintain the quality of its entertainment value. Otherwise, it could be said that the best way to protect the players is to ban hockey. They wouldn't get their throats slashed by errant skates if they had careers as plumbers or electricians.
Hockey is a rough game, involving punishing (legal) bodychecks, intimidation, frustration, antagonizing, and anger. Putting everything you have into winning at all costs. Men employed as career athletes, placed in this type of environment, must be expected to get into fights on occasion. It's a part hockey, and if it were somehow "eliminated" it would have a ripple effect, diminishing the quality of the sport in many ways, and not just by the probable increase in stickwork. Fighting's got to stay. Might as well enjoy it.