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The Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL - November 26th, 2013

By Sandie Gauthier

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Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Forbes came out with their valuation of each NHL team. No surprise that the Leafs are in first place (which is fantastic for the teachers, let's be honest).

The average NHL team now has an enterprise value (equity plus net debt) of $413 million, 46% more than a year ago. For the first time since Forbes began tracking NHL team values in 1998, three of the league’s five most valuable teams–Toronto Maple Leafs($1.15 billion), Montreal Canadiens ($775 million),  Vancouver Canucks ($700 million)–are Canadian (the New York Rangers ($850 million) and defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks ($625 million) are the two U.S. teams to make the top five). And this is also the first time that every Canadian franchise ranks among the top 16 in the 30 team league.

The NHL is being sued due to players getting concussed.

Ten former National Hockey League players, including former Maple Leafs Gary Leeman and Rick Vaive, claim in a new class-action lawsuit that the league has not done enough to protect players from concussions.

The lawsuit comes just months after the National Football League agreed to pay $765 million to settle lawsuits with thousands of former players who developed dementia or other concussion-related health problems.

Led by former NFL player and disability attorney Mel Owens, the NHL lawsuit seeks damages and court-approved, NHL-sponsored medical monitoring for injuries the players say were a result of their hockey careers.

CBC is trying to keep the rights to continue playing NHL games.

CBC is expected to pay up to $200-million a year, almost double its current fee, to keep Hockey Night in Canada, sources said. President Hubert Lacroix hinted at the end of the broadcaster’s annual public meeting last month that a deal was imminent, and sources said it could be wrapped up in the next two weeks.

CBC had exclusive negotiating rights through the summer, but found itself at a busy negotiating table through the fall as the NHL tried to take advantage of the other broadcasters’ interest. Striking a deal soon would eliminate a major distraction, and allow it to focus on coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, which begin in 73 days.