from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

A few of you have wondered (via Twitter) why I haven’t commented on the NHL email dump. It’s pretty simple: some of mine are included. I don’t have access to my old CBC correspondence. Tough to comment when you don’t know what’s there.

The fight to unseal the documents is Lawyering 101, an effort to push the NHL into a settlement. From the plaintiff’s perspective, it’s the right strategy. Will it work? That probably depends on the individual owners. How much pressure do they feel? That’s a critical question, because I can’t see Commissioner Gary Bettman wanting to give an inch.

Almost six years ago, we did an Inside Hockey feature for Hockey Night in Canada on concussions. The interviewees were Dr. Robert Cantu, at the forefront of research into the topic, and Dr. Ruben Echemendia, who co-chairs the NHL/NHLPA Working Group. I was very proud of that piece.

It was an interesting process. I don’t think I ever did a story with more calls from the league before it aired. We’re not talking about editorial control, but “do you have this info?” or, “Is there anything more we can do?”

What is this, I asked? I’m paraphrasing, but the response was, “This is big for the Commissioner. He’s worked hard on this.”

continued plus 30 Thoughts