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NHL hasn’t imposed new headshots rule; Kings’ Halpern says players still discussing it

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A day after the NHL’s Board of Governors unanimously approved a new rule that will subject blindside hits to the head to supplementary discipline and the league began working on how and when to implement it, the rule has not yet taken effect. ‘Still working on it,’ was the word from Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner.

Members of the NHL’s competition committee, which did not approve the rule before it was voted upon by the governors, are still working on their response to the league’s action. The NHL Players’ Assn. has said the NHL cannot impose a new rule without the approval of the competition committee, but the NHL said it can unilaterally impose the rule.

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Kings forward Jeff Halpern, one of five players on the committee, said Wednesday he has been in touch with the other players and they still intend to come up with a response to the rule, which was born a few weeks ago as a recommendation by general managers during their annual March meetings. The NHL has said it won’t impose penalties for such offenses until next season so on-ice officials and players will have time to adjust to the new rules.

‘We had a call last week. We wanted to make sure players were aware of what was going on, and we were going to come back with something to make sure guys were in agreement moving forward,’ Halpern said. ‘We’ll give our reply pretty soon. If they want to kind of do something outside of that, that’s up to them.’

Halpern said the players’ union and the competition committee are trying to make sure their members are informed and aren’t trying to block the adoption of a rule prohibiting headshots.

‘The players are in support of having discipline for those kinds of hits,’ he said. ‘I think the only thing that’s come into question is how you can have something that’s a suspendable play that’s not even illegal during the course of a game. ... I think it would be the only play where you could suspend someone for something that’s not even a penalty. So that’s the only issue that players have had.’

The league’s haste in voting to adopt the rule after years of delays and no acceptable definition of what should be legal or illegal, now casts the players’ association in a bad light. The league looks like it’s crusading for players’ safety now, when it has been hesitant to do that in the past. The union, which wants members to be informed and participate in the decision-making process, is now being painted as the bad guy for not simply going along with adopting the new rule.

Halpern said both sides want the same thing: an end to dangerous blows to the head.

‘I think it’s something that has come up in the past and players have pushed for. Especially players that have suffered concussions have really pushed for it. This might be an opportunity to put in a rule to really help this kind of hit. I think that’s the only issue for players: whether we can add a penalty on the ice for something like that. I think the refs are more than capable of making those calls.

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‘I think both sides want something done so I hope we’re able to do this in agreement and be able to move forward with support from each side.’

The members of the committee have been in contact with one another, Halpern said, though the schedule makes it difficult for them to all participate in conference calls. ‘We just wanted to make sure we got the support of our union and our players before we move on,’ he said.

-- Helene Elliott in Denver

More later on the Kings’ game at Colorado at www.latimes.com/sports

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