Judge's ruling means the NHL's legal troubles will continue.

According to a report from Katie Strang of ESPN, the NHL will be forced to continue it's legal battle against former players. Judge Susan Richard Nelson has denied the NHL's attempt to have a lawsuit from former players dismissed. The former players have filed a class action suit against the NHL in much the way former NFL players have done in the past, the NFL recently settled that suit for a very large sum of money. From Judge Nelson's official ruling:

"The Court finds each of these arguments insufficient to warrant dismissal because: (1) it is not clear from the face of the Master Complaint that Plaintiffs' claims are untimely; (2) Plaintiffs' claims are adequately pled; and (3) it is not possible on the present record to determine which jurisdictions' laws apply to Plaintiffs' medical monitoring claim."

The former players are claiming that league did not make players adequately aware of the long term brain injuries that can occur from playing hockey. They are claiming the high risk of concussions from playing NHL hockey was downplayed by the NHL despite the fact they had more information available to them. NHL Deputy Commisioner Bill Daly released this statement in response to the ruling from Judge Nelson:

"While we would have hoped for a different result on this motion, we understand that the case is at a relatively early stage and there will be ample opportunity for us to establish our defenses as the discovery process progresses."

It's a win for the plantiffs who include Dan LaCouture, Michael Peluso, Gary Leeman, Bernie Nicholls, David Christian and Reed Larson, but the battle is far from over.