When and will it ever end?
Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is regarded as a physical player with a scoring touch who plays on the edge at times. Wilson played on the edge and crossed the line according to almost every hockey fan Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
During a New York Rangers power play, forward Pavel Buchnevich went to find the puck in the goal crease. The whistle was blown and a scrum ensued involving Wilson. Buchnevich, with his head down on the ice, was punched by Wilson in the back of the head and a fracas went on. Wilson ended up punching forward Ryan Strome on the body while he was in a scrum and went after Artemi Panarin. According to a slow angle on Twitter, it shows that Wilson grabbed Panarin's hair and pulled him down on to the ice and wrestled him. Wilson can be seen on TV flexing toward the Rangers in the penalty box. As a result of all of this, Wilson received 4 minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.
However, this is not the first time that Tom Wilson has been under fire for his antics on the ice.
Let's go through his history going back to 2013.
Jan, 2013: Wilson, still on the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League, cross-checked and fought defenseman Darnell Nurse. He received five minutes for fighting and a game-misconduct. The result of this was a 5-game suspension for Wilson.
Dec, 2013: Wilson, now on the Capitals, received a five-minute penalty for a hit from behind and game-misconduct on Philadelphia Flyers forward, Brayden Schenn. He did have a hearing for the hit, but the NHL did not suspend or fine him.
April, 2015: In the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Wilson hit New York Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky with aggression. Wilson received a charging penalty and was not suspended or fined for the incident. Visnovsky only played 9 more games in his entire career after this hit.
Dec, 2015: Wilson was involved in two separate incidents that did not result in suspensions or fines. First, he hit Florida Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell from behind which resulted in a five minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. The second incident came against Ottawa Senators forward Curtis Lazar where he hit him in the head that resulted in a five minute penalty and a game misconduct.
April, 2016: Wilson was fined over $2,000 for a knee-on-knee hit on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary.
Sept, 2017: Wilson was suspended two preseason games for interference on St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas. Later that same preseason, Wilson hit Blues forward Sammy Blais that resulted in him being suspended the first four games of the regular season.
2018 playoffs: Wilson was involved in four separate incidents that had plenty of hockey fans calling for him to be suspended. In game one of the first round, Wilson hit Columbus Blue Jackets forward Alex Wennberg in the head that resulted in a two-minute penalty and no suspension or fine. In game two of round two, Wilson hit Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin in the head that did not result in anything. The next game, he hit Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese in the jaw. This resulted Aston-Reese with a broken jaw and a concussion and Wilson receiving a three-game suspension. In the Stanley Cup Finals, he hit Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault from behind that only resulted in a two-minute interference penalty.
Oct, 2018: Wilson hit Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist from behind in the head that resulted in a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct. Wilson had an in-person hearing from the league and was suspended 20 games for the hit, but was reduced to 14 by an independent arbitrator.
Nov, 2018: 9 games after he game back, he hit New Jersey Devils forward Brett Seney from behind that resulted in a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct. He was not suspended or fined for the incident.
March, 2021: Wilson hit Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo in the head. Later in the game, he fought Jarret Tinordi and Trent Frederic. He had an in-person hearing from the league that resulted in a seven-game suspension.
May, 2021: $5000 fine for punching Buchnevich and Strome. Nothing for throwing down Panarin.
PHEW!!! That was a lot of writing to get through his entire history. Tom Wilson has been in a lot of incidents that are not good for the game of hockey. It seems like through so many fans' eyes is that he hasn't and will not learn from his incidents no matter what punishment is handed down. So Wilson has been suspended for 30 games and has been fined over $1.3 million for 16 different incidents that are suspicious. That's averaging almost 2 games per incident. For a guy like Wilson, this is not good for the players, coaches, or the league.
According to a hockey insider, head of the Department of Player Safety, George Parros did not want to suspend Wilson for the Carlo incident. It's unbelievable how Wilson keeps getting away with doing dumb stuff like this and only getting slaps on the wrist. In no way should this be allowed in one of the greatest games in the world. In my opinion, I don't think he's ever going to learn from his past mistakes. Reason why is because I have watched him a lot these last few years closely and the way his played has not changed one bit. Today's game is based off of goals and speed with not as much physicality and fighting like back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
Every time my two favorite teams, the Golden Knights and Penguins play the Capitals, I fear of Wilson more than guys like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom because there's the history of Wilson injuring guys and it has happened to both teams. What George Parros has done in this situation for Wilson makes it look like he's buddies with him. This is not okay for our game and if incidents like this continue to happen, things are going to get worse and worse. Players' careers could be ruined by getting hit in the head with cheap shots. I hate to say it but I think Tom Wilson will unfortunately end someone's career because of either a hit to the head or an incident similar to Monday night.
Now the question is, what would I do if I were head of Department of Player Safety? What I would do is I would suspend Tom Wilson for the rest of this season. I would tell him, if you do anything in the middle of the season, then you're gone for the rest of the season. Next, if he does it again, then you're gone from the NHL.
In conclusion, Tom Wilson is a good player in the NHL with physicality and size to his stature. After this incident, most hockey fans of every other 31 NHL fanbases (yes the Kraken are included) have lost their entire respect for Wilson after the incident. Tonight, the Rangers take on the Capitals at Madison Square Garden WITH Wilson in the lineup. Will there be a response? Lots of hockey fans hope so. We shall see.
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