Maybe you are more upset with Tom Wilson than the actual other NHL players are.
Or maybe they just don’t want to speak out.
Or, like I said, maybe the players are actually not all that turned off.
I don’t know.
I don’t get it.
At least the New York Rangers said something. But, hey, maybe that had to do with the fact that their season is coming to an end and it was easy to do --- all optics, really.
Anyhow, this is all so perplexing.
Here goes …
Wilson is a repeat offender, a perpetual scumbag, an uninterrupted menace, troublemaker and jagoff. He’s a jagoff to the hundredth power.
The latest episode by the Washington Capitals player proves as much --- it was a play that seemed closer to double-homicide than it did something that should be deemed anywhere even remotely acceptable on a sheet of hockey ice.
As we know, it wasn’t the first time for Wilson.
Or the second or third. Know what the safest bet in the world is? It won’t be the last.
Not with the attitude around the National Hockey League or the fact that Wilson received precisely a zero-game suspension and $5,000 fine.
Oh yes, about that attitude around the league: Jim Colony of our station caught up with Penguins center Sidney Crosby following his team’s win against Philadelphia Tuesday night. Certainly Crosby had seen the play and as one of the preeminent faces in the game, it was only logical to ask what he thought about the latest act of cowardice from Wilson where NHL Czar of Corrections George Parros is complicit by levying only that nominal monetary fine.
“They handed down the discipline they thought was the right call,” Crosby said. “I’m worried about us; I’m not going to start commenting on everything that happens in the league. It didn’t look good, but that stuff happens and they’ve got a job to make sure they protect guys or fine guys. And that’s what they decided.”
Sorry.
That isn’t good enough.
And I don’t mean from just Sid. From the time he was pushed into the spotlight by virtue of his amazing talents, Crosby has pretty much maintained a similar line on all the controversial happenings around the league --- he just keeps it moving and allows others do the talking and acting.
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I get it. That’s how he normally operates.
But this isn’t a normal situation. Never before have I seen a team (the Rangers in this case) hammer another player and a league official in a press release and demand said league official (Parros) be removed because he isn’t fit to carry out the duties of his office.
But I’m not just pointing the finger at Sid.
Do these guy want Wilson punished or not? Where are their public and loud voices?
Where is MacKinnon?
Where is McDavid?
Where is Matthews?
Where is Draisaitl?
Where are the biggest names and faces in the league who have voices that merit you pay attention to them?
Where are any or all of the current NHL players on their social media (they don’t need traditional media to do this) hammering Wilson for his actions?
I’m not seeing it anywhere.
I’m having a hard time finding any of his peers put pressure on Wilson or call him out publicly for his slimeball ways.
Until that happens --- and until those players go to the NHLPA and let them know the greater good is more important than one goon --- nothing will ever happen. Nothing will ever change.
This NHL, from all angles, takes such great pride in policing itself. But get this: It isn’t working when it gets to the point where one guy keeps maiming people and an organization is trying to get the Dean of Discipline fired because he sucks at his job.
Flatly, it just isn’t working.
Or at least that is the way it looks from the fan and media perspective.
Until his peers stand up and start to rumble publicly, Tom Wilson is going to continue to do this.
What’s his impetus to stop now? A measly $5,000? Haha.
He has that in his underwear drawer.
And until those players --- especially the big time stars --- squawk loudly and very publicly about his actions, I’m going to really wonder if they truly want plays like Tom Wilson’s shenanigans out of their league.
Or if they think it is just better to deal with it by self-policing.
Or, heck, I’m not going to know what to think.
But if Wilson really bothers you, the time is now to stand together as a league (again, with the stars leading) and speak out against him loudly.
Now would be better than when one of you gets paralyzed or killed by the guy.