Sunday: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Wilson has elected to serve his seven-game suspension and will not appeal it.
Saturday: The Department of Player Safety has come down hard on Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, suspending him seven games for his hit on Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo. As the accompanying video explains:
On this play, the combination of Carlo’s battle with [Jakub] Vrana, his head being low as he looks for the puck, and Wilson’s angle of approach, combine to leave Carlo in a position where he is defenseless. Through no fault of his own, he is in a position where he is unable to brace for contact, anticipate the hit, or protect himself in any way from Wilson, who is approaching from outside his field of vision.
The league admits that hits like the one Wilson threw happen frequently, but still believes the totality of the situation—including substantial contact with the head—elevates it to supplementary discipline. The NHL also obviously took into account Wilson’s history with the Department of Player Safety. In the video, they explain:
This is a player with a substantial disciplinary record taking advantage of an opponent who is in a defenseless position, and doing so with significant force.
Wilson has been suspended four times and fined twice in the past, leading to the seven-game ban. Carlo also suffered an injury on the play, which is also taken into account in these situations.
Obviously, in a shortened schedule, suspensions have even more impact on a team. Wilson will miss an eighth of the entire schedule with this new penalty and forfeits more than $300K in salary.
Hey, Gavin, how ya doin? “thew”. Tom Wilson “thew” a shoe and gets to sit for seven… (more to come…) I’m looking forward to hearing John-O’s and Kenny’s takes on this one!
So pretty much he’s suspended because his names Tom Wilson? I get it. I watch almost every game. He’s cleaned uphis act though. Hasn’t had anything questionable until this since the 2018 preseason. He’s a physical player and you’ll have these kind of hits like last night. Overall, 7 is too steep in my biased opinion for a hit as common, as stated, like this.
He’s not suspended because he’s Tom Wilson. He’s suspended because he delivered an unnecessary hit on a defenseless player who was engaged with another player. There was no reason to deliver the hit. I thought Wilson would get 5 games, but I have little sympathy for him getting 7. Carlo’s going to be out awhile. Wilson has to be smarter
He did not clean up his act. He knew that if he continued he would be considered a “repeat offender.” So he bided his time and learned to bend the rules according to how he plays. This hit a perfect example. He knows he can’t make the head point of contact so he hits the upper body and pushes upwards with his arms knowing that the head would snap back into the glass. The Jankowski hit. He knows it’s late but he throws it anyways without aiming for the head.
He’s a goon and a thug.
Yes, “goons” and “thugs” certainly put up back to back seasons of 20+ goals in today’s pacified game…SMH
You can be a goon and a thug and still score 20 goals.
You are 100% correct on this idiot.
He has shown every year he has no respect for another players career.
Maybe in 1988 but not 2021, “goons” and “thugs” have pretty much been erased from the game. If in 2021 you can skate on a top line and pump 20+ in you have talent which defies those tags.
Guys defenseless player? 90 % of the hits in the NHL are to players with there heads down and that’s on wide open ice or on the boards. Why not make this game for cry babies for Pete sake. You put your head down and any shoulder shot is supposed to be acceptable. Wilson’s reputation got him the suspension period… and if you think not you haven’t watched the replay… glove to the face is far from an elbow like many in here are claiming
Last I checked shoulder checks to the chest are considered fair game and part of the game… moral is don’t put your head down… hockey 101
Bingo badco44
90% of those hits aren’t intentional hits to the head. Big difference
can this guy learn how to hit cleanly?
No he can not
@DarkSide830 – The simple answer: Yes he can learn. The actual real life answer: Nope, no chance. He is Tom Wilson, after all. I don’t think he believes he can be as effective as a hand grenade on skates without doing this.
No he won’t change his dirty ways.
I havnt heard him say anything about this hit, but after his last suspension he said he didn’t have to change his playing style or way he hits. It’s effective so I will continue.
Thick heads don’t learn anything.
His coach needs a few lessons too, because they won’t be able to argue any cheap dirty hits against their own team when he keeps saying this hit was 100% clean.
Yes, because no Bruin would ever do anything dumb, cheap, idiotic or not part of the game…
I mean the hit was bad but 7 games is ridiculous, even for a “repeat offender”
How many games have the players he’s injured missed compared to him?!
Maybe not this particular play,but when will the “defenseless player” stop putting himself in these positions?
When will the hard elbow pads and shoulder pads be removed?
I personally think the NHLPA should handle all fines and suspensions. Let them police themselves. Watch the cheap stuff stop.
youre suggesting that they will. they were the same people that let Wilson’s 20 game suspension be reduced.
I agree and have been saying for a long time that…
A) way more emphasis has to be on players who intentionally make themselves vulnerable
B) that elbow and shoulder pads shouldn’t be weapons, they didn’t use to be. No reason for exposed plastic, it can be covered by padding.
As you alluded to, though, in this case the Bruin was just playing the puck in a way that made his head a uniquely available target and Wilson bullseye-d it.
But…disagree, the only time players police themselves is when they punch each other. NHLPA always fights for the player who assaults the other player, not the player who was assaulted. Their priority is Tom Wilson not missing paychecks.
he didn’t intentionally make himself vulnerable. he was already engaged with another player.
that’s like saying the third guy in on a fight is fine because it’s the only guy from one team who put himself in that vulnerable position.
After listening to John-O and Kenny’s call again, I reaffirmed that they both called it straight up. Even Kenny was having the “Uh-Oh, that could be trouble for Tommy” moment in real time as they watched #43 plow Carlo’s head into the glass. He won’t learn, even if he does something that warrants an 82-gamer.
Come on, not this guy! What did he do? I mean really? Do you mean to tell me that intentionally targeting head after head after head is an issue? Then how did Traci Lords keep a job?
@waterdog311 – Blonde and hot.
Like Wilson, she also had eligibility issues, no?
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – Possibly, but we lost touch with each other. She went her way, and I was still in the bin – 5 for unsportsmanlike conduct. ;)
She was 16 and good at it
@BruinWally – And I was *much* older, with a couple of name changes in the ensuing years… ;)
Goon player.
I think he was given a slap on the wrist. He’s done this what, 4 times? He should have been suspended for the rest of the season. It that hit had happened to Ovechkin Capitals fans would be screaming.Wilson has a track record and as such needs to be held to a much higher standard
Caps fans were already crying that Frederic was annoying Ovechkin. However their players can take liberties with anyone because “they are a heavy hockey club.”
Could you imagine if he hit Crosby? He’d probably be banned for life. As a Flyers fan, I do think 7 games is a bit much. The thing of it is, they are using Wilson to prove some type of point that the league won’t tolerate this type of play, but it doesn’t deter any player on any team. It’s more a, “Do it until you get called out for it” mentality. It’s sad that the league waits until players get injured to make a stink. Basically, this whole thing comes off as, if Carlo didn’t get hurt, Wilson wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.
They are also using him to prove a point. Your previous history matters. he was told after the last suspension to clean up his act and that he wasn’t getting any light wrist slaps anymore.
This was a flat out dirty and dangerous play by Wilson. He deserves the suspension.
Wilson is actually lucky he is out of the window that would allow them to add more games for being a repeat offender. If he was still in that window, that magical 20 game mark would have showed up again.
What Wilson did, and does, is outside the bounds of an athletic contest and in reality a criminal act. But his actions weren’t the worst of the episode. Vrana’s cross check on the back of Carlo’s neck is beyond the pale. According to the rule book the stick is to be used only to advance the puck. Yet officials refuse to make a penalty call on the vicious cross-checking from behind that occurs on almost every play near the net. Vrana’s blatant attempt to injure Carlo should result in a suspension for the rest of the season or even longer. Let him go play in the KHL. Grzelcyk had a great opportunity to kick Vrana in the face. What would the league response to that have been?
Should be 5 games for the head shot by connor murphy on sunday..its a league thing now…
First off, this was not a head shot. The main point of contact was the chest and shoulder which can be clearly seen in a freeze frame here:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvwtBVmXYAIoldT?format=jpg&name=900×900
No direct head contact at all there. Second, the league then admits that hits like this happen all the time, but only this one gets punished. My question is if this wasn’t Tom Wilson, would there be an issue? No penalty was called on the ice either. If this was a head shot, the referees would have seen it on review and assessed him a match penalty right then and there.
They elevated the discipline because of a direct hit to the head that never happened as evidenced in the image at the link above. I don’t know, doesn’t seem right to me.
The hit was was on a player who was in a vulnerable position that didn’t need to happen . That’s where the suspension comes from. And since he’s been a repeat offender of dangerous hits, the ruling was warranted. He was wild and reckless the entire shift. How no penalty was called was beyond ridiculous, just like the Ovechkin “roughing” penalty when he speared the guy in the groin in the other game. I wouldn’t assume that referees would make the right call
Everywhere you look including this article here, the “hit to the head” that never happened is being factored into this situation. There was no such hit to the head is my point and it shouldn’t be anywhere in this discussion.
I would also say that it’s difficult for me to consider Carlo to be in a defenseless position when Wilson managed to deliver the body check to Carlo’s chest and drive his back into the boards. If it was the other way around, I’d without question consider him to be in a defenseless position. Not so easy when you get a shoulder to your chest/shoulder like that. At what point is it the responsibility of the player to be alert to what’s going on around him when his back isn’t turned to the play?
With regards to Ovechkin, did the refs see it? It was well away from the play and Frederic started it with his repeated cross checks though I’m not defending the spearing. In this case, a player was injured and there was suspicion of a hit to the head. The refs review the play to look for a hit to the head and act accordingly based on what they see or don’t see.
How is it difficult for you to see him in a vulnerable position when Wilson’s intention wasn’t even to play the puck but instead to target the big hit.
“At what point is it the responsibility of the player to be alert to what’s going on around him”. He was playing the puck along the boards. The hit happened so fast he’s got zero time to react or brace himself. That’s why he’s a defenseless player in a vulnerable position. It may not have been a “direct hit to the head” but it was violent enough to snap his head back and get crushed into the glass
It didn’t need to happen. Suspension warranted
Wilson’s intention to deliver a big hit has nothing to do with whether or not Carlo was in a defenseless position. The significant majority of hits in any game by any player is done with the intent of knocking a player off the puck or finishing a check, not playing the puck. I’m not sure where you’re going with any of that. The head “snapping back” happens in open ice hits, too. Unfortunately, sometimes the head hits the ice on the way down. That doesn’t mean it’s a hit involving the head. He didn’t drive Carlo’s head into the boards, it was a body check.
Everything in hockey happens fast, that’s why you have to be alert. Even guys playing pucks along the boards manage to glance to the side to see if anyone is coming to join the play and many of them manage to avoid incoming checks. This happens all the time. He wasn’t alert and his back was not facing the play, he is not in a defenseless position.
To me, a defenseless position is when you’re on the boards with your back (numbers on the jersey) facing the play. A defenseless position is not being in a position to take a body check to the chest. If your head is down in that situation, you’re leaving yourself open.
“He didn’t drive Carlo’s head intro he boards. It was a body check”
Judging by your still frame evidence, yeah ok. Watch the replay. Every angle, slow motion. Both his hands come up and drive his head into the glass. Body checks aren’t high and hard like that. Especially on the boards.
Carlo had control of the puck. How is he supposed to defend himself? He’s trying to make a play not prepare to take a hit like that. They called a defenseless player! Come on man. Stop defending this senseless nonsense from a guy who’s done this type of stuff in the past.
l
This type of stuff? He used to hit people in the head, this is not a case where a shot to the head was involved. I did see the replay, the primary point of contact is the chest and shoulder, NOT the head. I also saw it live. His hands did not come up and “drive his head into the boards”. He did not extend his arms or his hands into the head of Carlo, that is nonsense.
Carlo had control of the puck and he shouldn’t be responsible for defending himself? There is no time you need to be more prepared for a body check than when you have control of the puck, what are you even talking about? Players who have the puck shouldn’t be prepared to defend themselves from opposing players? Hits are only legal when players have control of the puck, so again, no idea what you’re even talking about. These kinds of hits happen all the time, literally, all the time in this league. Players usually see these hits coming and move out of the way so the hit is delivered to the boards instead of their body.
Being that you think a player who has control of the puck and does not have his back facing the play is not responsible for being alert to where other players are on the ice and qualifies as a defenseless player, we have nothing more to discuss. Carlo was not in a defenseless position on this play, he just wasn’t. If Wilson hits him in the numbers, then you’re absolutely right. Tom Wilson has made very bad decisions in the past without question, but this isn’t one of those times. Players with the puck are the only ones on the ice who are legal to body check. If they are in a defenseless position in those circumstances, it’s because they are not alert to what’s going on around them.
We will see ..if tampa player hurt then that is the way league is going…by the way dude i think the league is getting soft…they penalize players for past wrong doings even if hit was clean or not..it is rec hockey…
I think half the comments are from people who’ve never played at a level outside of minor hockey because once you get into serious leagues there will always be that guy you have to keep your eye out for. Gretzky always knew who was on the ice with him so he would keep himself out of vulnerable positions. Should be a lesson especially with being a defenseman you know you are going to get hit so situational awareness is a big factor. Wilson answered the bell twice later in that game that should’ve been it. Clean hit when a play gets injured similar to Tanev getting a match penalty for his hit on Tinordi. Clean to the chest but hits the boards and gets injured unfortunate but those things happen in a contact sport.