GMs call for tougher hits

With Boston and Vancouver about to faceoff in Game Four of the Stanley Cup finals the debate was once again in the spotlight after the Bruins Nathan Horton was knocked cold by a late hit from the Canucks Aaron Rome in Game Three.

Horton was taken to hospital with a severe concussion while Rome received a four game ban, a record suspension for a Stanley Cup final.

The urgency was not lost on the league's general managers, who met at a Boston hotel for nearly six hours on Wednesday and left recommending Rule 48, introduced last season to eliminate blindside hits, be broadened to include other blows to the head.

General managers were vague on exactly what type of hits would be included in the recommendations that will now go to the competition committee approval and then to the NHL board of governors.

"This is not going to be a blanket headshot rule," Brendan Shanahan, an NHL vice-president who will assume the role of chief disciplinarian next season.

"It's taking Rule 48 and expanding it in a fashion that we think will protect players, specifically illegal checks to the head.

"This isn't like international rules like a blanket rule where any contact to the head is illegal.

"It's not quite that far but it's more than we have right now."

The debate has hung over the NHL all-season and carried over into the playoffs as the list of concussion victims continued to grow.

The NHL introduced tougher rules and penalties this season for head hits, concussion protocols and awareness programmes but has continued to watch a parade of players wobble off the ice heavily concussed.

While the league has recognised the need to better protect players, it has been equally determined not to remove the physical component of the game, which is considered to be at the sport's soul.

"The tightrope we walk is, this is a full contact sport," said Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke. "It's been a full contact sport since we opened our doors for business.

"It's one of the distinctive features of what we do and we don't want to change that.

"We want to eliminate the really dangerous parts of the play but this is a game where you are going to get hit and there are going to be injuries.

"You've got to start with that basic understanding, that it's a full contact sport and we cannot lose that part of the fabric of our game."