NHL's Department of Player Safety set to crack down on knee-on-knee hits

The National Hockey League has decided that one particular kind of on-ice collision is not the bee's knees, and will act accordingly.

Stephane Quintal, director of the league's Department of Players Safety, noted Tuesday that knee-on-knee hits are up from one every 24 games to one every 14. As such, these plays will be reviewed more often, with the possibility of one-game suspensions being levied in the future as deterrence, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

A particularly egregious occurrence of such a collision took place during last season's Stanley Cup playoffs, resulting in a seven-game suspension for Matt Cooke.

Knee-on-knee collisions do occur by happenstance, but players will now be aware that the NHL is watching a little closer.