The Maple Leafs are taking an active role in the NHL's crackdown on head shots.

General manager Brian Burke was part of the eight-man GM committee that will be forwarding a proposed rule change on hits to the head with shoulders and elbows.

"I believe we will present a rule change that will help reduce blind-side hits resulting in injury," Burke said from the league meetings in Boca Raton, Fla.

Full details were to be revealed Wednesday when the 30 GMs get a look at the proposal.

The Leafs nearly lost center John Mitchell for an extended period on Saturday when Chris Neil of the Ottawa Senators caught him with a shoulder to the head.

"Hopefully the GMs can start something," Leafs center Wayne Primeau said.

Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard was a vicious cheapshot. It wasn't a case of "finishing a check", it was an intent to seriously injure a defenseless opponent by targeting his head.

The league announced today that they won't suspend Cooke. They made the right call. And they should be embarrassed by that.

As sickening as Cooke's hit was, he didn't do anything that's against the rules. He didn't leave his feet. It wasn't an elbow. It wasn't a charge. You can watch the replay as many times as your stomach can stand, and you won't see anything illegal. Put simply, there's nothing in the NHL rule book today that says Cooke did anything wrong.

There should be. Even among NHL fans, there seems to be a growing consensus on that point. But right now the league doesn't have a rule against blindsiding a defenseless opponent with a direct hit to the head. If you want to scramble a guy's brains, you can. Just make sure you use your shoulder, and it's case closed.

Was it intent to injure? Sure. But there's nothing in the rule book that says you can't try to hurt someone with a legal hit. Wendel Clark tried to hurt guys with his hits. So did Scott Stevens. So did plenty of guys.

(Update: As commenters point out, there are match penalties for "attempts to injure an opponent in any manner". So it's wrong to say there's nothing in the rulebook on this. That said, I can't remember ever seeing a match penalty called on a hit that didn't violate any other rule.)

Long-time readers know that I'm a Don Cherry acolyte. I love fighting and I'm not embarrassed to say so. And I love hitting, and celebrate it every chance I get. There's room for big hits in this league, even ones that hurt somebody.

But there has to be line, and Cooke crossed it. We know too much about concussions now to celebrate that sort of hit anymore.

Here's the problem: The solution isn't to invent a reason to suspend Cooke. The solution is to fix the rule book. Now.

I don't know about you, but I don't trust this league to start handing out suspensions based on intent. They have enough trouble handing out suspensions for obvious violations -- imagine what they'd do with some room for interpretation. I'd rather see them have clear rules with clear consequences. When it comes to head shots, they don't have that today.

They should. They've had years to get this right. They could have done it last year. In fact, they could have done it this year, effective immediately, if they wanted to (remember when they invented the Avery rule in the middle of a playoff series?). Real leagues, with real leadership, make tough decisions like this all the time. The NHL could have done it too.

They just didn't. That's where the outrage should be. Not that they didn't find a reason to suspend Matt Cooke for a hit that was clean according to the rules; but because they have a set of rules that actually allow blindside hits aimed directly to the head in the first place.

The league got it right this time. Let's hope that next year, when somebody throws the same hit, they get it right again: with a double-digit suspension.

Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli says centre Marc Savard might miss the team's final 17 games of the regular season because of the severity of the Grade 2 concussion he suffered Sunday.

The Vancouver Canucks hope to end a gruelling 14-game road swing on a winning note when they visit the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night (10 p.m. ET).

1. Several weeks back I was screaming at my TV during a Leafs game. I said "For Christ's sake Stalberg, start skating and hitting or get the Fu¢k off my team". I can't believe it worked! He has been a beast these last few games. My only regret is that I used up this magic on the Leafs instead of those GM commercials during the Olympics. 2. Kessel can't score on Thomas. One would have to assume

Luca Caputi had to share the spotlight during his big homecoming after Nikolai Kulemin stole the show with an overtime goal. Kulemin scored 4:11 into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. While Kulemin was the star with the winning goal, it was also a big night for Caputi.

TORONTO - Luca Caputi's big homecoming had to share the spotlight with Nikolai Kulemin's overtime heroics.

I’m not a fan of the Olympics.It’s not that the IOC is a litigious, corrupt, and venal organization, nor is it the fact that so many of the events aren’t even sports (why aren't darts, shuffle board or ballroom dance IOC sanctioned?).Who am I kidding? It’s all of these things.I thoroughly enjoyed the men’s hockey. I watched just about every match and sincerely hope the pros are back in the winter

Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general...

The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, hoping to turn some of their youthful energy into goals.

The Ottawa Senators hope to snap a three-game winless streak when they visit the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night (9:30 p.m. ET) at Rexall Place.

The Calgary Flames play the first of two big games in six days against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday.

HNIC's senior online reporter Tim Wharnsby dishes out the latest news, buzz and inside information from the hockey world.

Leafs vs Boston: With Savard injured the Bruins can't like their chances of making the playoffs anymore. In fact it's such a huge loss that this actually could mean they draft twice in the top 5 for the first time since the Islanders did it in 2000. Boston are 8 points away from a 4th or 5th overall pick as of today. It's gotta be on Chiarelli's mind and frankly wouldn't that be better than just

Short and sweet, I am trying to be productive today so you don't get any filler (funny how the post isn't empty eh?)
Here are the top 5 dreams of Leaf fans round yon Interwebs that NEED TO DIE BECAUSE THEY ARN'T FUCKING HAPPENING.

1 - Getting Kovalchuck in the off season. Too much money, too much term, too much soft one way sniper and we already have Kessel and half what he will cost.

2- Trading Kaberle to Vancouver for Hodgeson/Kesler whatever. The Nucks don't need Kaberle bad enough to part with the price Burke will be asking.

3 - Trading Kaberle for Jordan Staal. See number 2, the Pens wont even consider it.

4- Penciling Kadri in the lineup next year. He won't get more than a cup of tea with the Leafs next year and will spend the majority with the Marlies to put on weight and test his metal against grown ass men.

5- Another quantity for quality trade (see Phaneuf trade). I've seen a lot of "well look what we gave up for Phaneuf!" talk when discussing possible future trades. But think about this. Most of the remaining peices are either UFA's that are going to be let walk (Exelby, Lundmark) or young talent (Kulemin, Schenn, Caputi) that Burke won't trade.
All of the tradeable value, except Kaberle , is gone.

Bonus crushed dream
Stop expecting a Kings ransom for Kaberle.
Lets pretend the Hawks need a puck mover, and they don't win the cup, maybe get beat in the quarters or whatever(note, I am not suggesting this trade it is just a value example) and they REALLY like Kaberle and think he could be the final peice to get them the chalice. Ignoring cap situations and logistics, I peg maximum return for a Kaberle straight up to Chicago at the 26th over all 1st round pick, Akim Alue and either a 2nd round in 2011 or a 3rd in 2010, and even that is pushing it.

Each week, CBCSports.ca senior hockey writers Scott Morrison and Tim Wharnsby conduct (mostly) friendly banter on the latest hot-button issues in the NHL.

BOCA RATON, Fla. - As more ugly head shots make news, the NHL's 30 general managers are still wrestling with how to handle the issue.

TORONTO (Mar. 8) – If there is one aspect of day-to-day existence that has vehemently betrayed Brian Burke during his tenure as GM of the Maple Leafs, it is timing. Well beyond hockey, we can only imagine Double-B pondering how things may have turned out for his family had son, Brendan, been driving in clear weather back on Feb. 5, rather than the blinding snowstorm that took the young man’

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in...

Hits to the head in the NHL are apparently like snowflakes, in the sense that they're cold and involve...

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and...

Montreal's Tomas Plekanec beat Anaheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller in Round 4 of the shootout for his second goal of the game to seal a 4-3 Canadiens win on Sunday night.

For a tough team, the flyers ice alot of clowns

PHILADELPHIA - Simon Gagne wanted the puck and Dan Carcillo delivered.

Simon Gagne yelled. Dan Carcillo reacted. With time winding down in the second period, Carcillo flipped a backhand pass that Gagne deposited into the top left corner of the net. The goal, and another by Danny Briere 1:16 later, broke a tie in the Flyers' 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.