NHL Players Say Concussion Claims Aren’t About Free Speech

Free speech isn’t a defense to claims that the National Hockey League cultivated a “culture of violence” causing players to sustain long-term brain injuries, former players Daniel Carcillo and Nick Boynton told a federal court in Illinois.

The claims aren’t based on protected speech, but on the league’s decision to increase the risks to players by creating, condoning, and promoting violence in professional hockey, the players told the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois.

Though the NHL’s advertising and marketing of its “pugnacious product” to the public may have induced third parties to act violently in their amateur ...