They’re talking about it again. Coming off the heels of Matt Cooke’s concussion-inducing headshot to Boston’s Marc Savard. Savard left the arena on a stretcher, Cooke didn’t even spend a second in the penalty box. It’s unknown if Savard will play again this season. As for Cooke, based on recent suspensions, he may be back with Pittsburgh before the playoffs. Since the Penguins don’t play again until Thursday night, director of hockey operations Colin Campbell is taking his time deciding Cooke’s punishment.

Talk about beating a dead horse. How many shoulders to the face does the NHL need to put a real rule in place? How many concussions will it take before they say enough is enough? Some have suggested incredibly harsh punishment for offenders, including year-long suspensions and even banishment from the NHL, but the league itself remains fixed in a never-ending period of talk while the list of players suffering life-threatening injuries continues to grow.

One of the NHL’s speculated problems is what happens if a big star is caught delivering a headshot? Can the NHL survive without Crosby or Ovechkin for a full season? Half a season? The answer is ‘who cares?’ If the ‘face’ of the league is a dirty player and breaks the increasingly-necessary-yet-non-existent rule, then that player does not deserve his role. Another issue is with fan interest. Some love the fighting and the contact in hockey, yet nothing suggests that if you remove headshots from the game that fan interest will drop by even one person.

Nobody is tuning into hockey only for the illegal contact. It’s similar to watching videos of burning buildings or car wrecks. Nobody wants them to happen, but there’s a negative interest in them when they do. Even still, nobody watches those kinds of videos and says ‘we need more of that!’ It’s the same with headshots in hockey. Even many GMs can be heard protesting against the hits, but knowing the NHL, it’s not very likely that we’ll see a drastic change in the near future.