The deadline for retired players to opt in to the $18.9 million settlement of the concussion lawsuit against the NHL has been extended.Players’ attorneys confirmed the extension to The Associated Press on Friday night. It was not immediately clear what the new deadline was.The 318 former 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 initially had until the Friday to opt in to the settlement that was reached 75 days ago.Each player who opts in would receive $22 Womens Jared Spurgeon Jersey ,000 and could be eligible for up to $75,000 in medical treatment. 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.Charles Zimmerman, a lead attorney for players, said earlier in the day participation is “very good” so far, adding there were still some players who needed to be contacted for their decisions.“The vast majority of eligible retired players have agreed to participate in the proposed NHL concussion settlement,” players’ lawyers said in a statement. “Plaintiffs’ counsel, however, have encountered difficulties reaching some eligible retired players to discuss the settlement. Thus, at the request of plaintiffs’ counsel, the NHL has agreed to extend the participation deadline to allow completion of those communications.”Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly referred the matter to plaintiffs’ lawyers and said the NHL would have no comment.Daniel Carcillo, a vocal critic of the league and the settlement Jason Zucker Jersey , said he would not be opting in and knew more 10-12 other former players who also were not. Carcillo said Friday he wanted his day in court with the league but didn’t begrudge anyone who wanted to opt in and take the $22,000.Carcillo said he has fielded calls from more than 20 heads of individual teams’ alumni associations and that he has tried to tell any player who asks the facts of the lawsuit without injecting his opinion. Carcillo pointed to“If 22’s enough for you and you need it, then go ahead,” said Carcillo, who played 474 regular-season and playoff games from 2007-2015. “I won’t judge anybody who takes it. I don’t judge the guys who (played) five games and they saw an opportunity. But I also say this so that people understand why it’s such a disrespectful number because right now (the NHL doesn’t) feel that threatened.”Reed Larson, who played 936 NHL regular-season and playoff games, said he signed on to be part of the settlement but understood why some players with serious health problems decided not to because the money wouldn’t cut it for them. There is a clause in the settlement that allows the NHL to terminate it if 100 percent of players don’t accept, but Larson said lawyers are not concerned.“They think everything will go ahead and move ahead and they don’t see any reason why it won’t,” Larson said. WASHINGTON — The Florida Panther’s quest for their first win of the season brings them to Washington on Friday night to face the Stanley Cup champion Capitals.Florida (0-2-2) lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 in a shootout Tuesday to match the franchise record for futility to start a season, which was set in 2000-01. The Panthers endured a five-goal second period but rallied to earn a point.“We scored five goals on the road. We won the special teams battle and were the more aggressive,” coach Bob Boughner told the Miami Herald. “So Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey , there’s a lot of good, but still some bad in our game we’ve got to eliminate.”Article continues below ...The Panthers trailed 5-2 late in the second period before Mike Hoffman scored his first goal with Florida. Evgenii Dadonov and Aleksander Barkov scored third period goals, but the Flyers scored twice in the shootout off of Michael Hutchinson (21 saves) and the Panthers managed only one tally.“I had the game in my hands to put us in another round of the shootout, and obviously it doesn’t go in, so going to kick myself a little bit about that,” said Panthers forward Frank Vatrano, who scored two goals in regulation. “We got another game coming up on Friday that we want to get two points.”The Capitals stopped a two-game skid with a 4-3 overtime win against the visiting Rangers on Wednesday night. Alex Ovechkin scored twice on the power play and Matt Niskanen swatted a rebound past Henrik Lundqvist for the game-winner.Washington (3-2-1) has scored nine power-play goals in six games, but have scored just two five-on-five goals in their last three games.Both Ovechkin’s goals came from his ‘office,’ in the left circle and even though teams know what’s coming, the penalty killers can’t overplay Ovechkin with the likes of T.J. Oshi and Nicklas Backstrom on the ice. Ovechkin now has 232 career power play goals, tied for ninth all-time.“To completely take him away Authentic Marcus Johansson Jersey , other guys are just too open and they’re good enough to score,” Niskanen told the Washington Post. “Are you going to leave (Oshi) open in the slot from the hash marks to cover Ovi? … Guys are good at reading what’s open. It’s pretty lethal.”Rangers coach David Quinn came away impressed by Washington’s power play.“It’s amazing watching them, how calm they are. They don’t get rattled,” he told nhl.com. “There’s a confidence to them and a swagger to them, which they should have. They’ve been playing together a long time, and they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions, so they should play with a swagger.”John Carlson had a goal and two assists, Backstrom had two assists, and Braden Holtby made 29 saves for Washington.Holtby is 10-2-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average (GAA) and .920 save percentage against the Panthers. James Reimer gets the start for Florida and is 4-4-2 with a 2.16 GAA and a .937 save percentage versus the Capitals.Ovechkin has 36 goals and 40 assists in 60 games against Florida. Nicklas Backstrom has 11 goals and 36 assists in 48 games.Against the Flyers, Barkov moved past Pavel Bure for 10th in points in Florida history (252).