Tom Wilson gets Match Penalty for brutal hit on Blues' Oskar Sundqvist

[Reggie Dunlop]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1046493368912629770

Another suspension?

[btimbit]

Booted from the game and not exactly a clean record. Suspension very likely

[heep223]

What is wrong with this guy.

[ForeverFlameFan]

We don’t need guys like him on the ice. He should be suspended for five games, but the NHL will just suspend him for preseason.

No more preseason games? Then he’ll just get 1 measly game.

[omelete]

How many of these headshots is he going to be allowed before the league puts the hammer down?


The league and the PA talk a good game about protecting player's from predatory headshots but don't set up the rules to really allow for severe, deterring punishments.

[McG]

Are the nhl and nhlpa not sick and tired of this type of hit? Sickening.

What the heck is wrong with Wilson? A nothing game and he is head hunting.

I’m hoping for a long suspension, but the wheel of justice says 3-5.

[FlamesAddiction]

Brutal headshot. Difficult to tell from the video, but looking at the speed he came in, probably charging as well.

[Jiri Hrdina]

F'n idiot.

If the NHL is serious about concussions they would hand down a suspension of 25 games for garbage like this
But he'll probably get under 5.

[neo45]

I feel like suspensions should be even worse for headshots during completely meaningless games

[chedder]

Not condoning the hit one bit but Sundvist has to be more aware in that position for his own well being. Right across the middle with his head down.

[troutman]

Punk.

[Rick M.]

That hit was a Scott Stevens special.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Hope to see at least 10+ games

[Kipper_3434]

Dirty hit. Kid still has to keep his head up, would've been rattled even if it didn't contact the head directly. Too many players are being taught from a young age to put themselves in vulnerable positions to draw penalties and protect the puck by turning their back and the checking player. Thats not exactly what happened here. Still, neither player looks like they belong in the best league in the world.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by chedder

Not condoning the hit one bit but Sundvist has to be more aware in that position for his own well being. Right across the middle with his head down.

Christ I hate this argument. He had just taken a shot. Sometimes people have their head down, that is a simple unavoidable fact.

There is no need for Wilson to have hit him like that. He no longer had the puck, so it wasn't defensive, it was simply an aggressive hit on a vulnerable player.

If anything is ever going to be done to protect players at all, this type of hit has to go.

[GullFoss]

was it contact to shoulder or to head? Hard to tell...

Also, 20 years ago, this hit would have been celebrated

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Same guy involved in the same type of hits far too often. I love huge clean hits. But not when players are knocked out cold by hits like these ones. Nothing will stop Wilson from doing this. I don't expect much of anything from the league. Maybe a couple games. And eventually he'll do it again. And again.

[indes]

Looked like shoulder to shoulder to me. He got low and didn't jump or anything. They don't call them the trolley tracks for nothing.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

was it contact to shoulder or to head? Hard to tell...

Also, 20 years ago, this hit would have been celebrated

What is the point that it was acceptable 20 years ago?

It very clearly is not now and has not been for years.

And pretty much none of the players in the NHL were in the league 20 years ago (Thornton and Marleau, sure, and maybe very few others, but you get the point)

[chedder]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Christ I hate this argument. He had just taken a shot. Sometimes people have their head down, that is a simple unavoidable fact.

There is no need for Wilson to have hit him like that. He no longer had the puck, so it wasn't defensive, it was simply an aggressive hit on a vulnerable player.

If anything is ever going to be done to protect players at all, this type of hit has to go.

And sometimes when your head is down you're not going to see someone lining you up. So if the hitter was 5'9 or even just got lower and contact was shoulder/chest that's a clean hit, correct? I already said i didn't like the hit, but because it was too high. Player is going through the middle of the offensive zone with the puck. He got rid of the puck a second ago at most. He has to be looking out.