On Monday, a class-action lawsuit naming 10 former players, including former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Rick Vaive, as plaintiffs was filed against the NHL. The suit, unsurprisingly, claims that the NHL has committed a wide range of sins but repeatedly and specifically targets three parts of the professional game: designated enforcers, fighting and even body checking.
The lawsuit—the text of which is available at the website of lawyer and ex-NFL linebacker Mel Owens—outlines what it claims is a pattern of the NHL “causing or contributing to the injuries and increased risks” to its players in its introduction. It further argues that current rules allowing fighting and body checking are part of that pattern.
The last two paragraphs of the introduction make it clear that the players involved want to see a dramatic overhaul of the game:
17. The NHL persists in this conduct to date by, among other things, refusing to ban fighting and body checking and by continuing to employ hockey players whose main function is to fight or violently body check players on the other team (“Enforcers ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Jonathan Willis
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