The NHL referred to former players as 'mere puppets' in documents connected to its ongoing lawsuit regarding the handling of head injuries, according to TSN Senior Correspondent Rick Westhead.

The league took issue with former players involved in the concussion lawsuit who wrote op-ed pieces on the subject for news publications. Such was the case with Reed Larson, formerly of the Detroit Red Wings, who penned a 2015 piece for The Detroit News on the subject.

Wrote Westhead on the league's request:

According to a decision in the case that was unsealed late Monday, the league wrote in court documents that former NHL players like Larson who are suing the league are "mere puppets" who "certainly would not have had the mental faculties to write lucid and sophisticated op-eds for publications."

The NHL asked a judge for help obtaining correspondence between those former players and CLS Strategies, a Washington-based public relations firm that has given communications advice to the lawyers who represent a group of more than 100 former NHL players suing the league.

Judge Susan Nelson denied the league's request, as it was revealed during the deposition of Larson, Bernie Nicholls, and David Christian that while the three hadn't initiated the original drafts of their published pieces, they reviewed their articles before publication and believed they represented their own words.

"The deposition transcripts, in full context, demonstrate that the named plaintiffs were interviewed for certain publications, their own words were used, and they had authority to edit and approve the op-ed pieces bearing their names," Nelson wrote in her 2016 judgment.

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