from Rick Westhead of TSN,

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman should be forced to be deposed about matters relating to the NHL concussions lawsuit within the next three months, lawyers for a group of former players wrote in a legal filing.

Lawyers for the former players wrote to the NHL on February 23 asking to set up a time and location to depose Bettman.

Three days later, a lawyer for the NHL replied, saying that the league was refusing the request because of a so-called "apex doctrine." That legal doctrine gives the league the ability to refuse the deposition request if the information Bettman might offer could also be obtained through other means, the league's lawyer wrote, adding that without the doctrine, "high level executives would be 'vulnerable to numerous, repetitive, harassing, and abusive depositions.'"

In newly filed court documents obtained by TSN, lawyers for the former players write that the NHL has been stonewalling their effort to obtain information. They want Bettman deposed by July 1.

A group of former NHL players including Joe Murphy, Bernie Nicholls and Gary Leeman charge that the NHL did not do enough to protect them from head injuries before it created a committee to study head trauma in 1997. Even after that, the players charge the committee's findings were not adequately shared with players.

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