9 ex-NHL players file class action suit against the NHL

Nine former NHL players have filed a class action complaint against the National Hockey League in the United States District Court Southern District of New York. 

The plaintiffs include Dan LaCouture, Dan Keczmer, Jack Carlson, Rich Brennan, Brad Maxwell, Mike Peluso, Tom Younghans, Allan Rourke, and Scott Bailey. They played a combined 2,431 games in the NHL.

The suit, which you can view here in full, alleges the following:

Through the sophisticated use of extreme violence as a commodity, from which the NHL has generated billions of dollars, the NHL has subjected and continues to subject its players to the imminent risk of head trauma and, as a result, devastating and long-term negative health consequences. The NHL has failed and continues to fail to warn its players of these risks and consequences of head trauma, concealing material scientific and anecdotal information from its players. The NHL has failed to institute policies and protocols that could have and will protect its players from suffering or exacerbating head trauma sustained during practice or in games.

TSN legal analyst Eric Macramalla summarizes the allegations:

The suit includes a variety of provocative images of hockey fights, which is rare for this type of legal docment. It also references the FDNY vs. NYPD line brawl in a charity game last week and misspells Sidney Crosby's name "Sydney Crosby" on multiple occasions (H/T Travis Yost). Most egregiously the lawsuit claims that Gordie Howe is dead (he is not): 

This is the second head trauma related lawsuit to be filed against the NHL in the past 12 months. In November, a group of 10 former players with similar grievances filed a suit against the league. The number of plaintiffs in that first suit eventually ballooned to 200, according to reports.