The NHL's competition committee is reportedly close to revising its rule regarding hits to the head, and this new rule would lead to increased penalties and suspensions for players deemed to be headhunting.
The current rule — known as Rule 48 — only prohibits blindside hits to the head. The revision of the rule would remove the "blindside" tag and consider any hit that targets or makes initial contact with the head to be illegal.
"We're definitely headed down the right path in expanding Rule 48," NHLPA executive Mattieu Schneider said on Monday. "What it's coming down to is getting the wording down on paper."
The NHL has taken action in recent years to limit high hits after several players suffered serious concussions after taking shots to the head.
Bruins forward Marc Savard missed three months in 2010 after suffering a Grade 2 concussion on a hit from Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke — a hit Cooke was not disciplined for.
The league did discipline Vancouver's Aaron Rome, suspending him four games for his hit that knocked Boston's Nathan Horton out for the remainder of this year's Stanley Cup Final with a concussion, and has repeatedly stated publicly their desire to rid the game of such hits to the head.
"I just think that people have to realize the goal in all of this was to make the game safer," said Joe Nieuwendyk, a former NHL player and member of the panel that drafted the rule change. "We don't like some of the hits that we see and we don't like the results of those hits … I think the big thing is the education process to the players and how the referees will call this."
