At some point in your life, you've probably heard the saying "the only two certainties in life are death and taxes." There are actually three certainties: Death, taxes and the National Hockey League not truly protecting the health and safety of its players.
Once again, the league has fanned on a one-timer when it could have made a statement about hits to the head.
Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson was suspended for seven games for a hit that sent Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to the hospital. Carlo is out of the Bruins lineup and listed as week-to-week as a result of the high hit.
I'll bet many of you long-time fans of the NHL were not surprised by the ruling since the league is pretty consistent at missing its mark when it comes to supplemental discipline. I still had to shake my head for a few reasons.
Let's start with the length of the suspension.
The league has maintained that any suspensions this season would not be impacted by the reduced 56-game schedule.
I will call shenanigans here.
Tell me you don't think this is what happened. Any suspension that covers 10 or more games is probably considered significant by the NHL, but they can't suspend Wilson for 10 games in a 56-game season, right? 10 games is about one-eighth of an 82-game schedule. What is one-eighth of 56 games? Seven games. Viola! A seven game suspension.
Now we can move on to the explanation of the suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Wilson's hit was deemed a violation of Rule 41, which pertains to boarding as opposed to Rule 48, which governs hits to the head. This is a significant interpretation since suspensions for Rule 41 violations are typically shorter than those for Rule 48 incidents.
But in that league video, DIrector of Player Safety George Parros said Wilson "delivers a high, hard hit that makes direct contact with Carlo's head, driving it violently into the glass and causing an injury." Call me crazy, but if someone says a high hard hit made direct contact to an opposing player's head, I would file that under there category of a head hit. That's just me.
So there you have it, violently driving the head of an opposing player into the glass will set you back a whopping seven games, or, in this case, 12.5% of Wilson's regular season.
The fact that Wilson is involved in a dirty play should come as no surprise, which is another reason why the seven-game suspension is a pathetic attempt at discipline. Wilson has run afoul of the law before so to speak:
- September 2017: Two-game suspension for a late hit in a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues.
- October 2017: Less than two weeks later, Wilson is suspended for four regular season games for another late hit against that same Blues team.
- May 2018: Wilson is suspended for three playoff games for an illegal check to the head of a player, which resulted in a broken jaw and a concussion.
- October 2018: A 20-game suspension, which is later reduced to 14 games after an appeal, for an illegal check to the head, again, in a preseason game versus, again, the Blues.
First off, so much for learning any lessons. Second, what does Wilson have against the Blues?
If you look at the entire Tom Wilson rap sheet, you will find that he has now been suspended five different times for a total of 30 games, and fined more than $1.2 million in his NHL career.
Clearly the message isn't getting through, and I don't care at all about the fact he was "clean" for more than two years since his most recent cheap shot.
Mind you, the NHL does. The NHL does not consider someone a repeat offender if they go 18 months without a suspension.
How ridiculous is that?!
I should tell you that is only for the monetary fine part of the discipline. The league does take into account prior suspensions when determining supplemental discipline.
Although this time around, Wilson cut down the time he has to stay home in half from 14 games to seven games.
When you have a player like Wilson, who has been down this road time and time again, why don't you just throw the book at him? It's very simple.
"Thanks for coming to the hearing, Mr. Wilson. Your season is done. You can apply for reinstatement next fall, and we will let you know if you are welcome back in the league."
So the next time you hear any of the higher ups at the NHL office talk about how the health and safety of its players is always at the top of their list, you just think about Wilson and how hard the NHL came down with this seven game suspension.
