Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is in trouble yet again and facing a lengthy suspension. The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that they have offered Wilson an in-person hearing related to “boarding” for the high hit delivered to Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo on Friday night. In-person hearings are reserved for cases in which the player is facing a suspension of more than five games. The hearing will take place tonight.
Wilson, generally regarded as the dirtiest player in the NHL, was last suspended in 2018 for 20 games, but the suspension was reduced to 14 games by a neutral arbitrator. Although enough time has passed since then that Wilson is no longer considered a “repeat offender”, that label only applies to fine calculations and all previous discipline will be considered in a suspension decision. Wilson has previously been suspended four times in his career for a total of 23 games, including one for boarding and twice for hits to the head, and while this newest potential suspension may be for as few as six games, the league could return to 20+ games since Wilson has clearly not learned his lesson. The shortened season could come into play when determining the length, however.
The league is certainly facing pressure to hammer Wilson with substantial discipline for his latest aggression, especially since the referees did not even call a penalty on the play. There was quite an outcry last night following Wilson’s hit, led by Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy and star Brad Marchand and echoed by media members and former players alike online. The hit in question occurred in the first period and saw Wilson target a defenseless Carlo from a distance and deliver a hit to the head of the 6’5″ defenseman with a leaping check against the boards. As the head was not the sole point of contact, the league determined that this was not a case of an illegal check to the head but does meet the criteria of boarding despite an unorthodox angle of delivery. The league will still surely take into account that head contact was entirely avoidable as well. Carlo was helped from the ice and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. He spent the night in the hospital and was released this morning, with no timeframe for a return to the team.
While Wilson was the main culprit on the play, he is not the only one who faced potential retribution but at this point in time appears to be the only one set to receive it. Player Safety has not revealed any supplemental discipline for Jakub Vrana, who cross-checked Carlo multiple times in the upper back while he laid face-down on the ice. The league has also not publicly commented on the performance of referees Dean Morton and Pierre Lambert, who failed to penalize Wilson (with many options available) or Vrana and were inconsistent with calls all night.
Last night’s match-up was a case study in the continued value of fighting in the NHL. Whereas Morton and Lambert dropped the ball on maintaining order, Bruins Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic picked up the slack by each dropping the gloves with Wilson. As Wilson sat in the box following his first fight with Tinordi, the Bruins scored three of their five goals en route to an emotional win. The Bruins and Capitals do not square off again until April 8, so Boston is surely hoping for a maximum suspension for Wilson that might directly benefit them down the road.
Good. Dirty hit by a serially dirty player.
Tom Wilson makes Matt Cooke look like Gandhi in comparison and Cooke was dirty AF, too.
High hit on a vulnerable player. Wilson doesn’t do much to avoid the head, the shoulder comes in high. Principle point of contact isn’t the head obviously, but Wilson doesn’t do much to mitigate the impact on a clearly defenseless player. He has a history of theee sorts of plays and there should have been a call on the ice.
Minimum 25 games based on his history and clear, intentional targeting of Carlos head.
That would make it the third longest suspension in NHL history, I don’t think it will be that long.
He needs to be severely punished or he will continue with the bad behavior. As a hockey fan it’s frustrating too because he’s an excellent player and doesn’t need to do all this nonsense.
That was a really bad hit idk if it was a real targeted head shot but that’s what he hit and it sandwiched him between the other player and the glass so Carlo really hand nowhere to move so he didn’t get hurt so Wilson should get 3-5 games but what I really want to know how did Chara feel about it after it happened
10 games minimum. Figure Carlo will be out at least that long. Might as well give Vrana 1 game for the crosschecks while he’s down too.
I think wilsons elbows are down and Carlos was higher then his so what are u watching check the replay. Like I said he is a A** so you all what to give him 25 games so its ok with all of u that ovi spears the nuts out of a guy and he gets a fine give me a break….like a former NHL said to me before when your on ice be aware of who is on it as well…
7 games. The shoulder is high. Not everyone wanted to give him 25 games. No one was talking about Ovechkin.
Still one of the dirtiest things a player can do spear to the nuts…not only possibly ruin a guys career but his manhood …just sayin
If this had happened in Montreal, they would have called 911 and tried to arrest Wilson.