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The Washington Capitals are still in contention for a postseason berth with 13 games left in their schedule but forward Tom Wilson will be able to help them at least until April 4 following the suspension he earned on Friday.
Wilson, who had an in-person hearing via Zoom videoconference with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday afternoon, has been suspended six games for a high stick to the head of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor. The offense took place on Wednesday, March 20, and the suspension is the joint-longest one handed out by the league this season.
Wilson can appeal the ruling to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and then, if he and the NHL Players’ Association decide to push it further, to a neutral arbitrator.
“Wilson draws his stick back and then swings it forward in an extremely reckless fashion, making direct and forceful contact with Gregor’s face,” NHL Player Safety described the play in the video announcing Wilson’s suspension. “Wilson’s actions on this play are fully under his own control, irresponsible, and not related to any sort of legitimate hockey action.
“He is accountable for the dangerous result of the play which is a direct and forceful blow to an opponent’s head by a player with a substantial track record of supplemental discipline.”
Tom Wilson’s Bad Track Record Keeps Growing
That “track record” was a big factor in Wilson getting suspended for the next six games. Wilson will be eligible to return in time to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 4. This is the sixth time Wilson has been suspended by the league and his first one since 2021.
The suspension will keep Wilson off the ice for nearly two weeks while he will also forfeit $161,458 in salary according to the NHL, with that money going to the Players’ Emergency Assitance Fund. Per Chris Johnston of The Athletic, Wilson has already lost “more than $1.4 million” in career earnings through all of his suspensions.
“Probably a little reckless with the stick, but I’m fine,” Gregor told reporters on Friday, March 22, two days after the play.”I don’t think he’s trying to slash a guy in the face. I don’t think anyone in the league is ever trying to do that.”
When it comes to official suspensions–the six of them–Wilson earned his first one in March 2015 for committing two diving infractions and then got suspended four more times before Friday’s announcement including once in April 2016, and twice in each of 2017, 2018, and 2021.
That being said, Wilson has escaped getting suspended more often than not and boasts a much longer list of offenses in his professional resume, as documented by Mary Clarke of USA Today.
Wilson earned the longest suspension of his career back in October 2018, still in the preseason, when he illegally hit St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist on the head, earning a 20-game ban that was later reduced to 14 games after he appealed.
Back in December 2023, the NHL handed a six-game suspension to forward David Perron of the Detroit Red Wings for cross-checking Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub, setting a precedent for Wilson. Commissioner Bettman upheld Perron’s suspension after the player’s appeal.
Washington Still Fighting for Stanley Cup Playoffs Berth
This season, Wilson has appeared in 66 games for the Capitals scoring 17 goals, 15 assists, and 32 points. He ranks third in goals scored among his teammates while also ranking in the top six assisters of the Capitals this year. Wilson, however, is also the clear leader of the clubhouse in penalty minutes with 120 followed by T.J. Oshie‘s 42 PIM.
The suspension couldn’t have come at a worse time for Washington, which still finds itself fighting for a place in the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting in April. The Capitals defeated the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Friday without Wilson and have 77 points on 34 wins, 26 losses, and 9 overtime losses.
Entering the weekend, Washington is just on the outside looking in of the postseason picture trailing Detroit by one point in the standings in the race for the second wild-card seed, although the Capitals have a game in hand on the Red Wings.
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