Tom Wilson is a good hockey player, you can’t take that away from. Tom Wilson is a dirty hockey player—arguably the dirtiest player in the league and you can’t take that away from him either.
In 543 career National Hockey League games, Wilson has 85 goals and 120 assists for 205 points. He’s also lost a grand total of $1.4M because of his on-ice actions, been suspended on four different occasions and missed 23 career games due to suspension.
Most recently, Wilson was suspended for 20 games in October of 2018 after an illegal hit to the head of Blues’ forward Oskar Sundqvist. The suspension was later reduced to 14 games.
Wilson should be missing more games due to suspension after the latest edition of Tom Wilson being Tom Wilson.
In this episode, Wilson plastered Brandon Carlo’s head to the boards behind the Bruins goal with one of Wilson’s patented cheap shots to the head.
Sure, you can make the argument that Carlo didn’t put himself in the best position, but this was no bang-bang play. Wilson had plenty of time to pull up and lessen the blow on Carlo as he looked to separate Carlo from the puck. Wilson came a long way before going body-to-body with Carlo.
Wilson by the way, was not penalized on the play.
“You could see it, he hit him clearly in the head,… said head coach Bruce Cassidy.
“Brandon is in an ambulance, goes to the hospital obviously from that hit. Clearly looked like to me he got him right in the head, defenseless player, predatory hit from a player that’s done that before.…
It was another reckless, unnecessary hit from Wilson, one we’ve seen far too many times and one we will likely see again.
And please don’t try and sell me on the “he’s trying to change his game… song and dance. I’m not buying it and it’s not due to a lack of funds.
“He’s going to get five games, for sure it’s a f***ing penalty,… Cassidy yelled from the bench. “How many games are you going to get before you learn?,… one unidentifiable* Bruin asked Wilson.
*I’m going to miss being able to hear a lot of what is said on the ice when fans return later this month and things are less quiet.
Immediately after having his brain cells scrambled by chef Wilson, Carlo dropped his stick, grabbing his head with both hands. It took no less than five minutes after skating to the dressing room for the Bruins to reveal Carlo would not return with an upper-body injury.
Maybe instead of a upper-body injury we can call it another victim of the Tom Wilson “I don’t care about my peers safety… mindset?
“From my view, it was a shoulder to the head. I didn’t see the replay, obviously from talking to the refs they see otherwise. They said they saw it between the periods and see otherwise,… said captain Patrice Bergeron. “I guess I’ll have to watch it again.…
You knew the Bruins were going to stick up for Carlo, coming to the aid of their fallen defender. That’s what—most—hockey team’s do. Would it be Trent Frederic? Chris Wagner? Someone unexpected like say Craig Smith?
Well first it was newest Bruin Jarred Tinordi in his “welcome to Boston… moment.
“You can’t have guys taking liberties with our players out there,… said Tinordi. “I think that’s the way I’ve always played, it’s the way a lot of guys on the team play. I thought it was a little bit of a cheap shot and our guy goes down.…
Then it was Trent Frederic, just one game removed from doing such a good job of getting under the skin of Alex Ovechkin, that the future hall-of-famer decided it was time to give Frederic the good ol’ cup check.
“Tinordi did a great job stepping up and fighting, same with [Frederic],… said Brad Marchand.
Like they did at times in Wednesday’s contest, Frederic and Wilson got under each other’s skin. Wilson sent Frederic to the ice, and followed with a cross check to Frederic as he skated by just seconds before Wilson ended Carlo’s night prematurely.
The Bruins were leading 1-0 at the time Wilson decided a *likely* concussion was what he wanted to gift to Carlo before leaving town, but the hit on Carlo sparked the Bruins who went on to score the next four goals of the game en route to an eventual 5-1 victory over the Capitals.
“I think responding isn’t always about dropping the gloves. Obviously what Jarred did and Freddie as well is something that doesn’t go unnoticed, it’s very selfless and it’s for each other,… said Bergeron.
“With that being said, I think it’s about how we play, how we react and I thought it was a solid game all-around from everyone and doing it for Brando (Carlo). He’s obviously a big part of our team and has been having our back for a while as well.…
There’s been suggestions around the league that potential hits to the head should be reviewable. While getting the call on the ice is important, especially when it involves hits to the head and the safety of the players, it’s an issue that opens a whole other can of worms.
As someone who has gone on record admitting he’s not a fan of video review, Marchand understands the fine line of what should be and shouldn’t be reviewable. But at the same time, Marchand also can’t make sense of what is more important to the league.
“I think the biggest problem is what they’re choosing to review and not to review. They care more about looking at a video review of an offside by an inch or half an inch but they don’t care about reviewing a guy’s headshot,… said Marchand. “It’s tough to pick and choose when you bring video into it, what you’re going to review and that’s a situation where they could have, but again that’s a fine line.…
The response to the Wilson hit was exactly what you were looking for from the Bruins. They held Wilson accountable and made he and his team pay on the scoreboard and in the standings.
Whether Wilson is suspended for 5 games, 8 games, 15 games, or not suspended at all, it’s going to be a tense 24 or so hours inside the league’s Department of Player Safety.
The Bruins and Capitals meet four more times this season, twice in Boston and twice in Washington.