Derek Boogaard 's family has just filed a $9.8 million dollar lawsuit against the NHLPA. Derek died May 13, 2011 of a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol. They are suing the NHLPA to get the remainder of Derek's contract - 3 years for a total of $4.8 million- plus $5 million in punative damages. The NHLPA had agreed to file a grievance on their behalf, but failed to file the paperwork in time.

Because Derek's parents believe the NHL teams are partly responsible for their son's death, they turned to the NHLPA which promised to help them file a grievance to get the Rangers to pay out the rest of Derek's multi-million dollar 4-year contract with the team.

Derek had been through a few rehab stints to try and get the upper-hand on his drug addiction, unfortunately the drugs were stronger. The team doctors, phisicians, trainers, dentist etc, did not keep track of his drug use even knowing that Derek had been in rehab for prescription drug use.