The NHL said that the NHLPA has "repeatedly interfered with its attempts to introduce rules over the past 50 years to limit staged fighting, better safeguard players and bolster penalties for dangerous head hits," according to Rick Westhead of TSN. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly made the allegations in a "sworn affidavit filed in U.S. federal court in Minneapolis late Thursday that relates to a lawsuit filed by former players suing the league over its handling of head injuries and concussions." In the latest twist in the high-stakes concussion case, the NHL "asked the court to not certify the case as a class-action suit." If U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson certifies the case, it would mean "more than 5,000 former players, and the families of some deceased players, would automatically become plaintiffs in the case, drastically driving up the potential liability for the league." Daly testified after NHL GMs approved a rule “conceptually” to ban head-only contact with a vulnerable player in June '07, "it was the NHLPA who resisted and objected to a rule change.” The NHL alleges it has been "stonewalled by the union in attempts to reduce fighting." In Daly's affidavit, he said that on March 9, 2009, then-NHLPA Exec Dir Paul Kelly told an NHL GM's meeting that players "did not support the elimination or reduction of fighting from the game" (TSN.ca, 5/1).
