Last night the hammer came down on Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, when the Department of Player Safety suspended him for three playoff games. That matches Nazem Kadri as the longest suspension of these playoffs, and could potentially remove Wilson from the rest of the second round matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The league took several factors into account, including Wilson’s history—he’s already served two suspensions since last season—and Zach Aston-Reese’ resulting injury. Some have to wonder though if Wilson’s other incidents this postseason also factored into the decision. Wilson was involved in hits on both Brian Dumoulin and Alexander Wennberg that were reviewed by the league, but deemed not worth of supplementary discipline.
In this case, the responses to the suspension have been all over the map. Some believe the hit wasn’t even worthy of a suspension, while others think Wilson should be serving even longer for his repeated physical play.
Now, we’d like to quantify those beliefs. Vote below on whether you think the penalty was too harsh, too light or just right. Explain in the comments how long or short you believe it should have been, or if you think he shouldn’t have been punished at all.
These have been a playoffs full of suspensions, and it doesn’t look like they’ll end here.
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Not long enough
I don’t see how you give 3 games when it’s questionable as to whether the hit is legal or not. I thought he’d get a game at most. This is a big loss to the caps. The penguins fear the Willy when he’s on the ice and he’s been great on the same line with Ovechkin
Perfectly said, the hit looks legal to me but an illegal hit of that nature should have only been 1 game.
Agreed. The outcome was horrible, and it seems that’s the reason he was suspended.
Are you dim?
Feel free to explain the physics of how you break a guy’s jaw without hitting him in the head…
Lead with the shoulder. Shoulder to shoulder contact. Didn’t leave his feet. It was a huge hit, the momentum of it broke his jaw.
No one is saying he didn’t get hit in the head! But getting hit in the head isn’t an automatic illegal hit. If there is unavoidable contact, or the point of contact wasn’t the head, or contact to the head from the opponent moving, then the hit is legal. When you skate low like he’s was, it’s way easier to get hit in the head with your head being closer to the opponents shoulder. Doesn’t mean that skating low is a free shot at someone’s head, but don’t be surprised if the hitter is aiming for the shoulder and hits the head. That’s what is questionable. Not the fact that he got hit in the head
Aston Reese was not low when contact was made. If he would have been low, he would have caught Wilson.s elbow in the face. He would have been hurt far worse. The league even said they could see him raising his shoulder towards the head. Get over it. Illegal hit and Wison should ave been suspended.
Not for three games
Considering this was his 3rd suspension in the same season and the one prior to this was for 4 games, he was lucky it was in the playoffs or else he would have lost several more games pay if this hit was in the regular season . He only got 3 because it was in the playoffs. Repeat offender means they count 18 months worth of suspensions he takes another suspension prior to March 22, 2019 he is toast for a huge suspension. We shall see if he gets smart or he gets the Matt Cooke treatment.
The NHL ruled the point of contact was the jaw. Automatic illegal hit. End of story.
He contacted the jaw first. You can see it on the video from the side of the bench. Had the linesman right there would not have turned to get out of the way, he would have seen the direct contact to the jaw and a major would have been called. The ref on that end of the rink was still below the goal line near the Pens net when the hit was made an would not have had a good look at it. The linesman at the other end was in position to view the puck and players for a possible offside call because the puck was already approaching the other blue line with Pens in chase. the other ref would have been deep in the Capitals end. The only one who really could have seen it was the linesman right there but his back was turned. It was obvious that Wilson intended to go high and he made the main contact to Aston-Reese’s jaw. Plain and simple. It was not questionable. You are not allowed to contact the head on a check. If he would have gone for his chest area and hits him from the front, it would have been legal. He went high and hit him square in the jaw. That makes it illegal.
If you said anything other than “three games is too many” you know nothing about hockey.
You must be referring to “old time hockey” like the Broad Street Bullies style. I have nothing wrong with good clean body checks but players that employ those aim chest high and drive through the opposing player. They do not drive up through the player like Wilson did. Huge difference. You obviously know nothing about hockey rules. You obviously don’t know Wilson was labeled a repeat offender because he had 2 suspensions in the last 7 months prior to this one. That carries extra suspension time. His last suspension was 4 games. This one should have been longer than 3 due to the repeat offender status. It was capped at 3 because of the playoffs because the NHL thinks suspensions during the playoffs should not be as long as the regular season. Wilson better hope he has no other suspension before March 22 2019 because all suspensions in the prior 18 months count towards the repeat offender status. He will be toast if he gets another suspension before that date.
Yeah i actually know way more about hockey than you bud. Playoffs are way different than regular season games so your comparison proves your ignorance. The hit was also borderline, the head must be the “principle point of contact” which in my opinion it was not. Either deem it legal and no suspension or deem it illegal and give him a game. Call was an absolute joke made to appease the masses.
When you see the hit from the angle from the bench you see the first contact was to the jaw. The league ruled that the head was the point of contact. It was deemed illegal and since he is deemed a repeat offender, he was given 3 games because of that. No more opinions matter. I said what you did about the NHL treating playoff suspensions different than regular season. If this was a regular season suspension, he would have gotten far more many games. He is a 3 time suspended player now. He has till 3/22/19 for the NHL not to consider the 1st one of the 3. He will be toast if the next one is before that date.
It changes the series which sucks for hockey in general
Using the general idea that being suspended for one playoff game is equal to two regular season games, this suspension is light. It must be taken into account that Wilson is a repeat offender worthy of TWO suspensions this year alone. The NHL has a history of coming down hard on repeat offenders of this magnitude, ie Matt Cooke(10 games plus playoffs), Chris Simon(25 and 30 games), and Steve Downie(20 games). Make no mistake about it, Tom Wilson is on this level of unsafe play, and coupled with his two other incidents these playoffs, a wake-up call of 5 games(equal to 10 regular season games) should have been the penalty.
Not to mention the fact that the game before he also hit another player in the head, knocking him out of the game – and got the benefit of the doubt. Then he doubled down on the headshot the very next game.
If aston-reese skates with his head down again his career is gonna be real short
Watch the replay. His head was not down. He went around Beagle and he was looking right at Wilson. He was not low. He was upright when Wilson hit him in the jaw. Please watch the replay and pay attention to it. Do just go with the NBC/ESPN commentators that played in the 70’s and 80’s and decry anything that does not resemble their old time goon hockey.
I get that most non-caps fans find him to be a goon, but the hit looked clean to me (Hawks fan). Momentum carried him forward and Reese had his head moving in a downward angle. It is an unfortunate outcome, but the league is never concise about punishments and this exacerbates that ideaology. Keep your head on a swivel when certain players are on the ice.
This hit wasn’t an obvious suspendible. one,but this is the third hit in the playoffs that merited a close look.Two injuries occurred as a result.With that being said,a suspension this time was the right call.Wilson has to think twice before he makes similar contact because he is a marked man
First off, Wilson hit Aston-Reese’s head (intentional or not) and the hit (compounded with the injury, which has often played a factor in NHL suspensions) warrants a suspension. That being said, 3 games is too many. Wilson should’ve gotten only 2 games, one for the hit/injury and one for his history. But in no way is this hit on the same level as Nazem Kadri’s deliberate hit with a clear intent to injure that warranted him 3 games. By giving Wilson 3 games, they are basically saying Wilson’s and Kadri’s hits were basically the same. The NHL screwed up in the first place by only giving Kadri 3 games but this hit on Aston-Reese was not nearly as bad as Kadri’s hit on Wingels.
How many other suspensions did Kadri have in the last 7 months? Wilson got 3 because of the other 2 he got in the last 7 month and his most recent one was 4 games.
The way I see the hit, it shouldn’t have been a suspension. If you watch Aston-Reese, he sees Wilson coming and starts to rise up himself to meet the hit. Aston-Reese’s trailing skate is off the ice at the point of contact and he is rising his shoulder up to hit Wilson. He didn’t have his head down and he didn’t try to avoid the hit. On the contrary, he tried to stand up to Wilson and paid for it.
The thing is Wilson just plowed right through him. Aston-Reese had no chance to stand up to a hit like that. The initial point of contact was the shoulder, but because Wilson plowed right through him with little resistance, his shoulder right through AR’s shoulder to his jaw. It’s just not a suspendable offense to me. If Wilson was rising up to hit him in the jaw, then was Aston-Reese rising up to hit Wilson in the jaw too? They both rose up to make a hit on each other and Aston-Reese has no chance at all against Wilson.
I think there needs to be a distinction between what is intentional and what isn’t. I do not believe Wilson was trying to hit AR in the head. IMO, the hit on Doumalin was more suspicious to me, but it was also plausible that it was a split second reaction to Ovechkin who cleaned out Wilson in that play as well.
Wilson and Aston-Reese saw each other, lined each other up and both decided to go forth with the hit. Neither one backed down, both rose up to make the hit, Aston-Reese lost. It’s horrible that he was injured the way he was, but that doesn’t make it an illegal hit.
Funny, you blame Aston-Reese for skating and being too high for the hit and actually seeing Wilson coming for him. Many others claim that Aston-Reese was skating way to low and had no idea Wilson was coming. Have to laugh that everyone wants to make up reasons why it is all the fault of the guy with the broken jaw and the concussion. smh……
I watched the replay. It’s all there. I could care less what others say. He obviously didn’t have his head down. He had his head up and launched into the hit like Wilson did. He lost. He took on way more than he could handle standing up to Wilson which he clearly did in the video. He wasn’t “too high”, he rose into the hit like Wilson did. It’s two guys initiating a hard body check and usually someone gets the worst of it and there may be an injury. I’m not “making up” anything. That’s what the video shows.
A hard body check is what I saw all game in Boston last night. All hits to the mid body with the checking player driving straight though the check and not in an upwards motion that Wilson definitely did. He made primary contact to the Jaw of Aston-Reese. That is why he got suspended. Just like a stick violation, you are responsible for the hits you deliver. Aston-Reese was trying to stop and not initiate a hit. Wilson clearly changes how he was skating 2-3 seconds prior to contact and he was rising as he made the check and not driving through the person being checked like I saw all night list night in Boston. No player from Boston or Tampa Bay was penalized nor were they called in for a hearing for any of thos checks because unlike Wilsons check, they were very legal. Wilson chose to aim high as opposed to chest level. I Aston-Reese try to lower to avoid the hit, he would have had an elbow to the face instead of the top of the shoulder to the jaw and guessing may have had even more serious injuries.
I don’t know what video you’re watching, but Aston-Reese most certainly did not try to “stop” and certainly did not try to avoid the hit. He also did not lower to avoid a hit in any way, shape or form. He rose up and launched himself. His trailing skate was off the ice at contact. It’s amazing how you can watch that and say any of that with a straight face because they are all false statements.
The camera angle across from the benches clearly shows the exact opposite of what you say as far as that goes. Aston-Reese did not shy away, he did not try to avoid and he certainly didn’t try to stop. I have no idea what you’re looking at. Both Wilson and Aston-Reese checked in an upwards motion and it’s interesting how you project things on only one when they apply to both players involved. If Aston-Reese wasn’t so badly injured, I don’t imagine there would have been a hearing for this hit at all.
There’s no question Wilson rose into the hit, but so did Aston-Reese to the point his trailing skate came off the ice. That’s not stopping and it’s not an attempt to avoid. He had plenty of time to put the brakes on. He didn’t even try to do so.