After the National Hockey League's general managers put forward a recommendation for a rule change to address hits to the head, it now appears the league is moving to make a change before the end of the current season.

According to reports in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, the NHL is attempting to implement the GM's proposal immediately and will be releasing a DVD to help educate teams on the potential new rule .

"It's a process that has never been done before in the season. But this is so important an issue that if we can possibly avoid just one concussion, we should do this," stated the NHL's senior vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell to the Globe and Mail's online edition."

Campbell went on to explain that league-wide cooperation would be required if they want to add the new rule to the game before the beginning of the post-season.

"We are working to see if the new rules can be implemented as quickly as possible, and perhaps as early as before the end of the season (April 11)," deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Toronto Star in an e-mail Tuesday. "We are proceeding on the basis (of) doing what is best for the game and the players on a responsible timetable within the parameters of our legal and contractual obligations."

The recommendation that came out of the general managers meetings last week in Florida was expected to be forwarded to the NHL and NHLPA competition committee and then to the NHL Board of Governors for final approval. If it was passed, the rule would likely have been added to the game for the 2010-2011 campaign.

Now, it seems as though the league is willing to take the necessary steps to alter the way they punish headshots as soon as possible.

So now every little hit to the head will be called in the playoffs? Great job NHL, you guys are the most incompetent professional league in the entire world.

I think they're only trying to push through the blindside / predatory headshots rule, not anything more.

So now every little hit to the head will be called in the playoffs? Great job NHL, you guys are the most incompetent professional league in the entire world.