An internal memo, circulating around NHL headquarters, indicates that the league and commissioner Gary Bettman feel "no desire" to work with the former players, currently advancing a class-action lawsuit against Bettman and Co. alleging negligence and fraud by the NHL regarding concussions, on a possible settlement. According to a report from Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Sports, the memo, which, Wyshynski says was distributed to the NHL's Board of Governors at this week's meeting, indicates that the league feels there is no "smoking gun" that will afford the players a leg-up in court or potential settlement talks, meaning the NHL simply feels the science regarding concussions and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) does not yet back the players' claims.
"While recent signals suggest plaintiffs are anxious to begin settlement discussions (similar to what transpired in the NFL), we have indicated to them no desire to engage in such discussions, primarily because we feel so strongly in the merits of our case and the leadership role (among all sports leagues) we have taken in the study, prevention, diagnosis and management of concussions," the memo reads, per Wyshynski.
"In this regard, it should be pointed out that the NFL entered settlement negotiations and reached preliminary agreement before any meaningful discovery had been conducted in their cases - perhaps because of a concern of their 'facts' and what discovery in those cases might reveal.
"By contrast, despite extensive discovery to date, we have yet to find any document or other evidence that would tend to support the plaintiffs' theory of the case."
As the memo notes, in Aug. 2013, the NFL settled out of court with more than 5,000 former players who had brought a class action lawsuit against the league, accusing it of concealing the dangers of concussions and repeated head trauma. The settlement, per a New York Times article from April 22, 2015, when federal Judge Anita B. Brody finally approved the deal, provided payments of up to $5 million to former NFL players who suffer from a number of neurological disorders commonly associated with concussions.
The NHL clearly feels that the NFL jumped the gun in doling out a settlement and that nothing has been proven that can link them inextricably from prior knowledge of the dangers of concussions. As Wyshynski notes, the lawsuit is currently still in the "discovery phase," and Bettman and other NHL officials have been compelled to offer depositions.
A "source with knowledge of the plaintiffs' case" indicated recently to Wyshynski that there have, to this point, been "no substantive talks regarding a settlement" to this point. Beyond the depositions, the players have requested the league's injury databases and head injury videos, but the NHL has been unwilling to share them as of yet.
