Tom Wilson Fallout; Rangers Rip DoPS Parros as ‘Unfit,’ Call for Removal
Shots fired. On Monday night, Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson stirred controversy and the ire of most hockey fans when he slammed defenseless New York Rangers winger Pavel Buchnevich’s face into the ice, then seemed to pull Artemi Panarin’s hair and slammed Panarin’s head to the ice.
Panarin suffered an upper-body injury and will miss the last few games of the regular season. Officials issued a pair of roughing minor penalties and a 10-minute misconduct.
Hockey fans and even some former players, including tough-guy John Scott, called for a lengthy suspension. However, the NHL Department of Player Safety issued only a $5000 fine.
In fairness, that was the maximum fine allowed.
Good grief.
The New York Rangers were not happy with the NHL DoPS and Tuesday afternoon issued a blistering statement that didn’t just criticize Player Safety head George Parros. The statement called Parros “unfit” and called his lack of significant punishment for Wilson a “dereliction of duty.”
The statement reads:
The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely.
Wilson’s reckless and dangerous actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing the rest of the season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL Head of Player Safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role.”
The NHL suspended Wilson for seven games in March for his dangerous hit on Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, who was hospitalized after the hit.
The NHL statement for that suspension included a stern condemnation.
“This is a player with a substantial disciplinary record taking advantage of an opponent who is defenseless and doing so with significant force.”
Wilson ragdolled the much smaller Panarin after attacking the defenseless Buchnevich. Social media erupted, with few defenders outside of Washington and a few former players.
Categorized:NHL
Mario said during his playing years that the NHL was a “garage league”. Nothing has changed. Wilson belongs behind bars.
Tom Wilson is a criminal, a thug, an asshole and should be banned from the NHL for life.
They wont punish him until he cripples somebody.
If the NHL is not going to do their job then teams must defend themselves. Most of the Flyers goals last night were point blank from the crease. We don;t have anyone who will clear the crease. Even if we have a DMAN in the crease he just stands there and doesn’t touch anyone? My hope is in the off season we get some size and snarl!
Had Reaves and traded him away. Tell me Guenzels injury couldn’t have been prevented if Reaves were still patrolling the ice. Thanks JMR
The punch was uncalled for and maybe a one game suspension makes sense. The whole flinging Panarin to the ice bit is ridiculous. If you decide it is a good idea to jump on someone’s back (especially when the player is engaged in a tussle), you should not expect anything different. Rather than complaining, better idea for the Rangers is to go figure out how to get good at playing hockey.
Rather than complaining–get better at hockey? Most people would say Artemi Panarin is pretty good at hockey.
Can we all contact the NHL via their contact us page? https://www.nhl.com/info/contact-us
or, from that page: “Now you have more options to get our attention. Please contact us through live chat or by email at nhltvsupport@nhl.com or by phone at 800-559-2333 (US) / 1-585-736-3994 (International)12PM to 1AM ET Monday through Sunday. Customer Service remains open until the conclusion of all games”.Should we let them know our collective fan outrage?
Of course, some guy from Pittsburgh is going to completely misrepresent what actually happened. The truth is that Panarin
initiated contact by jumping on Wilson’s back. The Rangers whining after the game was classless, but I guess one can understand because they were eliminated from the playoffs for about the thousandth year in a row.
Pete, you should check my resume and background before bringing that silliness
I’m sure you’re a caps fan ,cause your statement is ridiculous
Tom Wilson is a hockey player and hockey is a adrenaline sport, that’s it no big deal
Wilson is a joke, and should not be playing hockey. Makes you wonder why he wasn’t suspended. Somebody likes him. He gives NHL a black eye. His behavior should not be condoned.
You know what would be awesome? if other teams, (hint hint, Pitt) put out a statement supporting the Rangers. The Pens have had plenty of “Wilson issues” over the years. The guy is a complete sociopath on the ice.
I agree Edgar maybe all teams that play the caps with Tom Wilson should refuse to play maybe that would wake people up
Here’s a healthy bit of whataboutism from Lars Eller comparing Crosby and Konecny last night to Wilson and Panarin (https://sports.yahoo.com/lars-eller-defends-tom-wilson-170854225.html).
Never mind the fact that Crosby was the one without a helmet and that Crosby didn’t whip Konecny down on his unprotected head violently and backwards. But we should listen to Lars who is unbiased and sees things more clearly. Geez.
Eller sees clearly like Wilson, that’s dangerous.