After last night’s blindside, potential intent-to-injure, near-no call on Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault, there seems to be little doubt, since he rolled into the league five years ago, Tom Wilson has been the NHL’s equivalent to NFL Miami defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh. Maybe he’s not as big as Suh (nor is Suh as nimble as Wilson), but — make no mistake about it — Wilson has arguably been the league’s dirtiest player since 2013.
This is pattern behavior, not some freak hit in a consistently physical game. There was intent to injure the Golden Knights’ leading postseason scorer in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s like going after Tom Brady’s knees, or LeBron James’s fluctuating forehead. In these moments, you play hard but you play it right, not like Carl Racki injuring Derek Sutton (aka Patrick Swayze) in Rob Lowe’s “Youngblood.”
According to The Sporting News, “No player in the NHL has been penalized more since Wilson entered the league in 2013. Of his 255 penalties (regular-season only) during that span, roughly 20 percent have been majors (58). They add up to 806 minutes, including 11 misconducts and a match penalty. Only two other players (Antoine Roussel and Cody McLeod at 707) have more than 600 penalty minutes. Again, these figures don’t even include his postseason misbehavior.”
But he’s only been suspended twice in his career and fined just once. Now, before you jump into your “whataboutisms” regarding Ryan Reaves or the physical aspect of the NHL itself, you can shove those in your trophy case for another day. We aren’t talking about anything Reaves has done. We aren’t talking about part of the game. You know, the tough parts Major League Baseball has erased from existence with plays at the plate and the NFL has minimized in the backfield anywhere near Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, or the aforementioned Brady.
We’re talking about sizing up a defenseless opponent with his head and eyes away from you, as you stride at least two more times while lowering your shoulder, instigating the contact. Look at this frame! This is after two full strides from Wilson.
Maybe I’m being soft, as some have said on Twitter. “Welcome to the NHL!” they say. Honestly, they may be right. Perhaps dirty play is encouraged in the NHL and this is the landscape it exists in. I can’t imagine the NBA being as popular as it has been had it been that easy to open a series. Same with the NFL or MLB (I’ll leave the rough-and-tumble world of Roller Derby alone, for now).
Imagine this scenario: “Here are THE KEYS TO SUCCESS FOR the Golden State Warriors IN the NBA Finals: Take out LeBron James’s knee in Game 1. Win the series in Games 2, 3, 4, and 5, while your henchman doesn’t miss but two minutes of actual game play.”
Experts and fans are split on the debate.
I love the passion & physical play of @Capitals Tom Wilson but when you cross the line like he did on the Marchessault hit he & the team should pay the price. Wonder how @AnaheimDucks Andrew Cogliano got 2 games for his hit & none for Wilson. Thoughts @GeorgeParros?
— Guy Hebert (@guy_hebert) May 29, 2018
That Tom Wilson hit was great. No head contact. Shoulder to shoulder. Caught him on the backcheck. Finished his check, the 1 second delay doesn’t bother me, it’s hockey keep your head up. Yes, blindside hit… but it was delivered clean and the head was not a target. Loved it.
— Zach Gillam (@ZachGillam94) May 29, 2018
Perhaps the NHL missed this one. Perhaps it didn’t. Perhaps it was totally a “legal hit” by Wilson, as he claims, and maybe March even told him it was a good hit (which sounds like a load of bantha poodoo, considering March was quoted as saying the opposite).
“I saw the hit. I remember everything,” Marchessault said after the game, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “It was a late hit. I don’t really need to talk more about it. I think the league will take care of it. We know what type of player he is out there. You gotta keep your head up and try to make the play. I didn’t make the play, I was a little late, but whatever.”
Wilson’s douchey response was even more stereotypical of the wannabe Disney cartoon thug.
“I haven’t obviously slowed it down and looked at it but I think he’d probably say he shouldn’t have admired his pass and I’m just finishing my check,” the 6-foot-4, 195-pounder said, according to the Washington Post. He went on to say, “He might have been a little bit surprised by it, but it wasn’t an aggressive hit. He looked fine at the end when he was yelling at me from the bench.”
Spoken like a true bag of deutche.
The only thing worse than this hit is trying to believe Jonathan Marchessault got up and said “Good hit” to Tom Wilson after 😂😂… #WhatAJoke pic.twitter.com/GwtRI94PKu
— Bar South N Celly™ (@BarSouthNCelly) May 29, 2018
Look, this has been a pattern of behavior all season with this guy. He’s been suspended THREE times this season, the biggest being a three-game suspension in Round 2 of the postseason, for a cheap headshot on Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese, which broke the forward’s jaw and gave him a concussion.
It started in the preseason, when he was forced to the bench for two games after a big hit on St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas and then another four games to open the regular season for his illegal hit on St. Louis forward Sammy Blais. None of this includes Wilson’s hit on Brian Dumoulin in Game 2 of the Penguins series, which knocked the Pittsburgh defenseman out of the game but didn’t result in any punishment from the league.
Shocking.
Wilson may be the NHL’s toughest bad boy, but he better be careful while in Las Vegas. We already have one bad boy, and he’ll tear your arms off and beat you to death with them like Chewbacca, if you don’t lay off our Golden Misfits. Don’t think so? Feel free to take it up with him: Las Vegas Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer.
