The National Hockey League announced a tentative $18.9 million settlement Monday with more than 300 retired players who sued the league and accused it of failing to protect them from head injuries or warning them of the risks involved with playing.The lawsuit Adidas Scott Mayfield Jersey , consolidated in federal court in Minnesota, was by far the largest facing the league. The NHL, as it has for years, did not acknowledge any liability for the players’ claims in the proposed settlement and can terminate the deal if all 318 players or their estates don’t elect to participate.The settlement is significantly less than the billion-dollar agreement reached between the NFL and its former players on the same issue of head injuries. Each player who opts in would receive $22,000 and could be eligible for up to $75,000 in medical treatment.“The cash amount of $22,000, that’s small, but we were always looking for (medical) coverage to begin with,” said former player Reed Larson, who was among the first to sue the league over head injuries that could lead to the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. “The bottom line is this is monitoring, testing and hopefully help for players that will either have (CTE) now or could get it in the future.”Players’ attorney Stuart Davidson said he knows there will be comparisons between the NHL and NFL settlements, even though they differ drastically.“When you have a defendant who has spent millions of dollars litigating a case for four years to prove that nothing is wrong with getting your brain bashed in Adidas Dustin Tokarski Jersey , you can only get so far,” Davidson told The Associated Press. “I think it’s important for players who have an opportunity to settle their case with the NHL now to understand that before they get anything through a trial against the NHL it’s going to cost millions of dollars in experts to get there, and that’s going to have to be paid for before they see a penny from any recovery, assuming they win.”An NHL spokesman said the league would not make any comment until after the opt-in period of 75 days for players. There were 146 players who added their names to the lawsuit as plaintiffs between November 2013 and this August and 172 more who joined as claimants.In addition to the cash payment, the settlement includes neurological testing and assessment for players paid for by the league; up to $75,000 in medical treatment for players who test positive on two or more tests; and a “Common Good Fund” for retired players in need, including those who did not participate in the litigation, worth $2.5 million.Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby, who has dealt with concussion problems throughout his career but is not involved in the lawsuit that includes only retired players, told reporters after practice the league, Players’ Association and others must all have a role in the issue.“It’s something as players that we know that risk,” Crosby said. “Obviously we know a lot more now than we did before, even a lot more than we did when I had my first one. It’s something you hope they can mutually agree on. It’s something that I think is important from both sides.”Retired player Daniel Carcillo Adidas Robin Lehner Jersey , one of the plaintiffs, urged players not to accept the settlement. In a series of tweets , he said players would be forced to see the same NHL and NHLPA doctors to determine if they’d be eligible for treatment.Carcillo also asked for Wayne Gretzky’s thoughts: “I want him to use his platform to help the men who protected him throughout his career. Lack of pressure from former players is a direct result of this insulting attempt at a settlement.”Charles Zimmerman, who was a lead attorney for players, said he was most disappointed the lawsuit couldn’t assure future benefits for all retired players like in the NFL.“I think it’s a very appropriate result and a good outcome in a very contested, hotly litigated matter,” Zimmerman said. “The main goal in the case was to get medical testing and treatment for the players, something that the NHL wouldn’t agree to for the four years that we’d been litigating and that’s what we achieved.”The settlement comes four months after a federal judge denied class-action status for the retired players, a significant victory for the league in the lawsuit filed in November 2013. U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in July denied class-action status, citing “widespread differences” in state laws about medical monitoring that would “present significant case management difficulties.”The bid for class-action status would have created one group of all living former NHL players and one group of all retired players diagnosed with a neurological disease, disorder or condition. Had Nelson certified the class action, more than 5,000 former players would have been able to join the case.“It’s not surprising after the NHL prevailed on the class-action motion that there would have been movements in this direction Adidas Leo Komarov Jersey ,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr told reporters in Toronto. “I’m glad for the parties that it’s all over. Hopefully people can go on with their lives and now we can perhaps deal with these issues with the NHL without having to worry about the effect on the litigation.”Davidson called Nelson’s decision a “watershed moment” for the case and that players lost leverage as a result.“It severely limited the damages to the NHL owners and benefits to the NHL players,” Vanderbilt University sports economic professor John Vrooman wrote in an email to the AP. “This decision essentially forced the 140 (plus) players involved in the suit to settle and prevented the participation of all other potential litigants. So it will seem that both sides ‘won’ in what was really a lopsided victory for the owners. It’s just that all of the owners won by gaining current and future protection from damages and a minor fraction of the players won something that they would have zero chance in obtaining in isolation versus the league.”Settlement talks ramped back up in July with an agreement reached Nov. 7.Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly have, on multiple occasions, said the lawsuit had no merit.“When it comes to focusing on concussions and trying to understand them and how to treat them, we’ve been leaders in the field,” Bettman told the AP in May. “And that gets completely lost in the rhetoric of the litigation, and I don’t like discussing the litigation. There is a sense because it gets sensationalized that the reality of our position with player safety is somehow at odds with the reality of the science and the medicine and it’s not true. We study it very closely.”The NFL settlement covers more than 20,000 retired players, and lawyers expect payouts to top $1.5 billion over 65 years. As of last month , the NFL concussion lawsuit claims panel has approved more than $500 million in awards and paid out $330 million. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) It didn’t take Tomas Tatar long to get going with the Vegas Golden Knights.Three games into his tenure, Tatar got a winner with his first goal and Vegas avoided its first four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over New Jersey on Sunday, handing the Devils their third-straight loss.”It’s a big goal after getting traded and it’s a big one to get the monkey off the back Adidas Valtteri Filppula Jersey , but the even bigger thing is it helped us win the game,” said Tatar, who was acquired in a trading-deadline deal with the Red Wings last Monday. ”It’s a good start for our road trip.”Deryk Englland and David Perron also scored for the Golden Knights, which is starting a five-game road trip.Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped a half-dozen excellent chances in the first period, made 33 saves, including a last-second shot by Kyle Palmieri to win for the 22nd time in 33 games.”We didn’t give up near as many chances as we did the last couple of games,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said of the recent 0-2-1 skid. ”I felt we played a better defensive game and `Flower’ (Fleury) was really good in the net for us. He made a great save with one second left in the hockey game.”Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist for New Jersey to extend his points streak to a league-best 19 games. He has a point in the last 25 games he has played. He missed three games with an injury, so the personal streak is longer than the league-recognized run.”It’s hockey so you are going to lose some games,” Hall said of the Devils’ recent ups and downs. ”You are going to go through rough patches. No one has gone 82-0. It’s a hard league and there is so much parity there are no easy games.”After a scoreless first period, there were five goals in the second, with the Golden Knights getting three and Tatar providing the winner with his 17th of the season.Tatar, who was acquired for three high draft picks over the next four years Adidas Dylan DeMelo Jersey , gave Vegas a 3-1 lead with 2:17 left in the period when slid a rebound of Perron’s blast that Schneider could not hold under the goaltender for a power-play goal.Schneider felt he had the puck between his pads. He didn’t.”I was just trying to get down on it and whoever it was just speared into the pads and knocked it through,” said Schneider, who is now 0-2 since returning from hip and groin injuries. ”They called it a good goal and we didn’t challenge it. You just have to live with it.”Tatar said his teammates made a nice play off the faceoff and Perron had a hard shot.”He was walking down main street and I tried to help him so that he could have the best shooting lane,” Tatar said. ”The puck dropped there and I poked it in.”Hall reduced the lead to a goal 12 seconds later with his career-best 30th goal. He collected a puck that Golden Knights defenseman Colin Miller mishandled behind his own net and came quickly came out in front and beat Fleury.”I’d give it all up for a couple of wins,” Hall said of his streak.Perron opened the scoring at 4:39, putting the rebound of a deflection by Tomas Hyka into an open net.Sami Vatanen tied it a little more than four minutes later with a power-play goal from the left circle. Hall set it up with a cross-ice pass.Engelland put the Golden Knights ahead to stay at 11:17 with a rising shot from the right point past a screened Schneider. It was his first goal in 35 games and fourth of the season.NOTES: Devils F Brian Gibbons will skate with the team this week for the first time since breaking a thumb on Jan. 20. … Perron’s 59 points are a career high. … Vegas scratched F James Neal and Oscar Lindberg and D Luca Sbisa and Nate Schmidt with injuries. … Devils rookie F Jesper Bratt was a healthy scratch. … D Jon Merrill, who Vegas took from New Jersey in the expansion draft, got an assist on Perron’s goal. … Patrick Maroon, who the Devils acquired on a trading deadline deal, has three assists in three games.UP NEXT:Golden Knights: At Columbus on Tuesday night.Devils: Host Montreal on Tuesday night.—