Steve Montador's family sues NHL over head trauma

The family of deceased hockey player Steve Montador is suing the NHL. The Montador family lawsuit states that the NHL "failed to provide him with up-to-date medical information about the risk of long-term brain damage" while promoting and glorifying fighting.

Montador was found dead in his Ontario home in February at the age of 35. He reportedly suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease that’s been linked to repeated head trauma.

The lawsuit also states that Montador suffered 15 head injuries over the course of his career, and those were only the ones that were documented.

Montador also participated in a total of 69 fights during his career.

"The NHL has long known that its players were susceptible to developing CTE and other neurodegenerative brain diseases as a result of the fist-fighting it allowed and promoted, the hard hits it encouraged and marketed, and/or the blows to the head that it steadfastly refused to eliminate from its game," the Montador family’s lawsuit says.

Montador was a journeyman defenseman in the NHL, playing with six teams over the course of his 11-year NHL career. In his final game in the NHL in 2012, Montador suffered a concussion.