The Washington Capitals are still in playoff contention with 13 games remaining on their schedule, but forward Tom Wilson will be able to assist them at least until April 4 due to the suspension he received on Friday.
Wilson, who appeared in person by Zoom videoconference with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday afternoon, was punished for six games for a high stick to Toronto Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor’s head. The infraction occurred on Wednesday, March 20, and the punishment is the league’s joint-longest this season.
Wilson can appeal the decision to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and if he and the NHL Players’ Association decide to take it a step 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 said in a video announcing Wilson’s punishment. “Wilson’s actions on this play were completely under his own control, irresponsible, and unrelated to any actual hockey activity.
“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 continues to grow.
That “track record” played a significant role in Wilson’s suspension for the next six games. Wilson will be able to return in time to face the Penguins on April 4. This is Wilson’s sixth suspension by the league, and his first since 2021.
Wilson’s ban will keep him off the ice for about two weeks, and he will also forfeit $161,458 in compensation, according to the NHL, with the money going to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. According to Chris Johnston of The Athletic, Wilson’s suspensions have already cost him “more than $1.4 million” in career earnings.
“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.
