New Headshot Rule to Take Effect Tonight; Thursday Stars Notes

The league and the NHLPA have come to consensus on a temporary new rule for headshots:

NEW YORK -- Beginning with tonight's games, the National Hockey League will implement a new rule prohibiting "a lateral, back-pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact."

Under the new rule, the NHL Hockey Operations Department is empowered to review any such hit for the purpose of Supplementary Discipline.

-NHL.com. Meaning that the in-game minors and majors for such hits can't be called yet, I am assuming, but they've now given themselves latitude to suspend guys for however long they feel like because of hits like Matt Cooke's. It will be interesting to see the first precedent set (I hope it doesn't even happen this year) in terms of # of games.

Does the language bother anyone at all? Can they really go after someone for "targeting" the head, even if they don't make direct contact? Talk about setting a dangerous precedent...

• Related funny cartoon @ Pro Hockey talk
• Razor being Razor (apparently he's single handedly responsible for lack of player interviews on the broadcast.)
• Ribeiro feature on Dallasstars.com
• ESPN Dallas talks about the shootout woes.
• Heika talks about the prospect of Marty Turco being a San Jose Shark. The idea is sure to make fans of both teams  vomit a little, no? But does it make hockey sense?
• Sharks blog with kind of creepy cartoons.
• Brad Richards has his confidence back. I didn't know he lost it.
  

Still an eternity to that 9:30pm faceoff tonight...