In NHL news, the book per head saga surrounding the proposed rule change regarding headshots continues.

Although it is unclear when exactly it will come into effect, it appears likely that the rule will be in place before the end of this season. The players however, want more discussion before there is any agreement to a new permanent rule change. While the players are in support of a temporary ban to provide a solution for the remainder of the season, the NHL’s competition committee has made it clear their desire for talks this summer before any new permanent regulations are put into place.

The competition committee is made up of five players, four general managers and one owner. Their assent is required for any rule change – from there, the rule must be approved by the NHL’s 30 governors. In the case of a mid-season rule change, such as the proposed tweaking, a unanimous vote of approval is required from the governors. Were this a sporting contest, sportsbook cappers would consider the rule-change a lock at this point.

The rule change calls for a minor or major penalty to be assessed for “blindside” hits to the head, with all such hits subject to an automatic review by the league’s hockey-operations department. The move comes on the heels of a series of brutal blindside hits in recent memory, with the most recent being Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke’s hit on Boston’s Marc Savard – a blindside check which left Savard out cold and out of competition after suffering a concussion.

NHL playoff sports betting is picking up and so are the injuries to playoff teams. Some of the betting tips being given are to wait until the week before the playoffs to see who is healthy and who is not.

The Chicago Blackhawks are 5 to 1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup, but in the last week they have been racked with injuries on defense. A few days after Alexander Ovechkin violently ended the season of Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell, Anaheim player James Wisniewski took out Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook with a crushing upper body hit that left Seabrook limp on the ice. It is unknown how long Seabrook will be out or if he will miss the playoffs.

In an update on the Brian Campbell hit, Alexander Ovechkin has said that he did not mean to hurt Campbell and is apologetic about the defenseman’s injuries. Ovechkin claims it was a clean hit and he is confused as to why he was suspended. The incident has caused the NHL rules committee to re-evaluate penalties for hits to the head.

High-scoring winger Mikael Samuelsson was knocked out of the game against the New York Islanders after sustaining an upper body check. Samuelsson has 30 goals for the Canucks this season and his offense would be sorely missed in the playoffs.

The goalie injuries keep piling up in Philadelphia. Just a couple of weeks ago starting goalie Ray Emery was lost to the team for the season because of hip surgery. Michael Leighton stepped in and took over the number one spot. In a recent game against Nashville Leighton injured his ankle and is scheduled to undergo an MRI to see how badly he is hurt. It is unknown at this point how long Leighton will be out and the Flyers have him listed as day-to-day.

The main focus right now is the March Madness Bracket, but the sports betting is picking up in the NHL as teams make that one last mad dash for the playoffs. With only a few weeks left in the season some teams are moving in and out of playoff contention, while others keep climbing that ladder to the top.

The Montreal Canadiens are holding on to seventh place in the Eastern Conference by five points over the ninth place New York Rangers. Stuck in the middle in eighth place are the Boston Bruins. While the Canadiens and the Rangers continue to win games, the Bruins are losing ground as they continue to suffer from the lack of scoring due to the injury to Marc Savard. The Tampa Bay Lightning are only three points behind the Rangers, but unless they can start stringing together some wins the Lightning will not be part of the 2010 playoff picture.

Three points separates the ninth place Calgary Flames from the red hot Detroit Red Wings who sit in eighth place and have their eye on the seventh spot held by the surprising Nashville Predators in the Western Conference. The West does not have the log jam from seventh to ninth place that the East has, and it looks like any team on the bubble in the West will need to really catch fire to make the playoffs. The Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings are in sixth, seventh and eighth spot respectively; and they are all on multiple game winning streaks right now.

The surprise of the post-Olympic playoff stretch is the Phoenix Coyotes in the West. While the Coyotes may not catch the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division, they are certainly cementing their fourth place playoff berth as they continue to win and put distance between themselves and the fifth place Los Angeles Kings. A playoff season that involves the Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators would be good exposure in those markets for the NHL. That is especially true when you consider that none of those teams made the playoffs in the 2008-2009 season.

National Hockey League disciplinarian Colin Campbell has stated that Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke will not be suspended for his hit on Boston Bruins center Marc Savard, which didn’t surprise too many online betting cappers for some reason.

Campbell made the announcement from Boca Raton, Florida, where the annual general managers meetings are currently taking place.

Cooke delivered a blindside shoulder to the head of Savard with five minutes to play in Pittsburgh’s 2-1 win on Sunday. The Bruins’ pivot hit the ice hard and laid motionless for several minutes while medical staff attended to him, before being taken off the ice on a stretcher.

The 32-year old had since been diagnosed with a grade two concussion, and is out indefinitely for Boston. Savard has admitted to suffering from constant headaches and exhaustion in the days since the hit took place. Doctors continue to monitor his progress.

The incident forced the issue of shots to the head to the top of the agenda in discussions at this week’s meetings. Currently, there is no rule in place that forbids players making shoulder contact to the head of an opponent, as long as it is within the rules of the game. However, a group of eight GM’s proposed yesterday a rule that will forbid players to make contact to the head of a defenseless opponent, and will forward the proposition to the league’s competition committee for approval.

In a recent independent medical study, it was revealed that 200 NHL players have suffered concussions over the past two seasons.

Boston Bruins center Marc Savard is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a grade two concussion following a blindside hit to the head by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke.

The incident happened in Sunday’s 2-1 Penguins’ win.

Savard lost consciousness on the play for close to 20 seconds, and lay motionless on the ice for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The Bruins’ top pivot was then taken off on a stretcher, and taken to a local hospital.

Savard returned to Boston Monday where he met with team doctor Peter Asnis and a brain specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and was diagnosed. He complained of constant headaches and exhaustion, common symptoms of concussions. The 32-year old also admitted he did not remember blanking out, or the events immediately leading up to the point that he took the hit. The team said they have to watch how Savard progresses over the next few days before they will know how long he will be out.

The player who made the hit said he was only finishing his check. Cooke has a sports book reputation for questionable hits, and has been suspended before for what is considered dirty play. However, because the league mandate does not forbid shoulder-to-head hits as long as the puck is in range, the NHL is not expected to levy a suspension.

The incident coincidentally corresponds with the annual NHL general manager meetings in Florida, where hits to the head are the main topic.

It has been 24 hours since the end of the deadline and it is time for those doing sports betting to decide who came out of the busiest day in NHL history on top and who failed to get the job done.

Winners: Washington, Phoenix and Toronto.

The only knock on Washington was that they could use someone to back up Mike Green and might not be tough enough to deal with the playoffs. They picked up Joe Corvo and then added Milan Jurcina, Jason Chimera, Scott Walker and Eric Belanger. This added a solid, second-unit offensive-defensemen, in Corvo, and a bunch of depth and toughness; making them even more of a favourite to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

Phoenix made a league high seven moves; with the biggest being the acquisitions of Peter Mueller and Wojtek Wolski. These will bolster their offence and makes them a solid playoff team that no one really wants to meet; a large step from the league joke that they were last year.

The Leafs are in the race for worst in the league but after their big moves before the Olympics Brian Burke was able to pick up three prospects and four draft picks while only giving up a minor league goaltender and two second to third line wingers. Great for a rebuilding team.

Losers: Flyers, Red Wings, Blackhawks and any other team looking for a goaltender.

In either the first games since or the last game before the deadline, each of these teams had to pull their goaltender during a blowout. Each team wanted a top tier goaltender and none of them managed to pick one up. Of the big names like Turco, Vokoun, Ellis and Halak rumoured to be on the block, none of them were moved. The only goalie that got traded was Vesa Toskala who moved for the second time in a month to the

With the Trade Deadline looming, reports out of Toronto have at least two teams putting down offers for Alexei Ponikarovsky. Whether Brian Burke pulls one today or waits until closer to the deadline to see if he can get a better deal is still to be seen but all signs point to the power forward being with another team before 3 pm tomorrow. Wayne Primeau and Lee Stempniak are said to have been asked about and are readily available to gather draft picks and free up some playing time for the Leafs young forwards.

The Philadelphia Flyers are actively pursuing Nashville’s Dan Hamhuis and it is reported that forward Ryan Parent and some other compensation (likely a mid-round draft pick) would be going the other way. The Flyers are trying to beef up their back line in case they are unable to acquire a better goaltender; something they have been rumoured to be inquiring about since Ray Emery was shut down for the remainder of the season.

The first of many players expected to be shipped out of Edmonton is heading to Nashville as the Oilers have sent Denis Grebeshkov to the Predators for a second round pick. In a nosedive since early in the season, the Oilers have made it clear that they will listen to any offers that will give young players or draft picks in return for their veterans.

Carolina and Florida have also made it clear that they will be sellers at the deadline with Joe Corvo, Aaron Ward, Andrew Alberts and Dennis Seidenberg heading up a group of highly sot after defensemen available from the two clubs.

The Flyer, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes are at the top of the list of clubs actively trying to improve their defence heading into the playoff push and you can expect a combination of the teams doing deals.