No. Maybe he was already preparing to hit him and colliding into him is unavoidable but he can at least determine that his hit was poorly timed and ease up.
Tom Wilson doesn't care. Tom Wilson wants to make name for himself and the way he knows how is to hurt players.
5 preseason games next year, maybe 2 regular season games. The guy is a Stanley cup champ, they wont punish him much.
He is still punishable, Stanley Cup champ or not. If this was Ovechking or Kuznetzov giving out the hit...
I'm quite certain his suspension will still be very light for the majority of people who are against this type of hit, but it will be more than double of what a star/superstar would get.
"be aware of your position" is not an argument. It's good advice. chedder specifically said he didn't condone the hit, and neither do I. But not putting oneself in dangerous positions, or at least being aware of it, seems extremely logical.
Isn't this taught from minor hockey? Well, it was when I played, but that was a while ago now!
We were all taught to keep our head up.
But it is incredibly naive to assume that everyone will all the time (and even if you do, it doesn't mean you can see all 5 opposing players).
So it comes down to a choice: you can say 'keep your head up or suffer the consequences', or you can say 'hits to vulnerable players are dangerous, aren't needed, and put players at risk of injury'.
So yes, 'be aware of your position' is an argument, because it assumes the league has chosen the first option. Which it hasn't, and can't (due to inevitable future litigation).
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What is Wilson supposed to do in this situation? The situation being, an opposing player cutting through the slot with his head down, intent on shooting.
First of all, to the 2nd bolded comment, the player had already shot. This wasn't a defensive play, it was contact after the fact.
To the first bolded comment, there is an entire spectrum of reactions. Going all out and destroying the player is not the only choice here. Nor is it the best choice. Nor does it in any way positively affect the game.
Just a bizarre question.
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Sundqvist was cutting to the middle of the ice, and the hit was made concurrent with the shot (the puck was off his stick maybe 1/10th of a second when the hit was delivered). So Sundqvist was totally eligible to be hit, and, yes, to be hit hard.
Wilson could have let up on him, particularly given that it's preseason. However, the video shows Wilson take one crossover to turn toward Sundqvist, but otherwise just glide. So it's not an egregious charge, IMO.
The big problem, that should lead to a lengthy suspension, is that Wilson has all of the time to set up for a "full body check", but instead comes across the front of Sundqvist, placing a lot of the contact on the head, and whipping him around. It was much more dangerous than it should have been.
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First of all, to the 2nd bolded comment, the player had already shot. This wasn't a defensive play, it was contact after the fact.
To the first bolded comment, there is an entire spectrum of reactions. Going all out and destroying the player is not the only choice here. Nor is it the best choice. Nor does it in any way positively affect the game.
Just a bizarre question.
I don’t think Wilson went all out. That hit could have been worse. But that’s not the point.
As a defensive player in that situation, Wilson has to do something. He chose to hit. I don’t think that’s the correct choice and I am asking the question with the intent of driving conversation towards what it is we should expect Wilson to do instead. He can’t just let an opposing player walk through the slot... or can he?
Truth is, I don’t know what I think about this kind of thing. Is this result an inevitable consequence of allowing open ice hitting? Seems to me that trying to draw lines between what’s ok and what’s not (was the player defenceless, was his head down, was there head contact, etc.) is extremely difficult/subjective.
Looks exactly like the Cook hit on Savard back in the day that made them change the rule. I guess if there is no suspension nothing has really changed. I think he gets at least 5 games.
Hard for me to believe how much debate there is about this hit. I understand there is a significant spectrum or grey area about hitting and principal point of contact, intent, etc, but this is as clear of an example of a direct hit to the head as you will find.
You don't need a slow motion replay or frame by frame analysis of when the puck left his stick or Wilson's trajectory or how many crossovers he made or what anyone might have been taught in junior hockey or anything.
He hit him directly in the head. Either the league wants this out of the game or it doesn't care.
From one of the angles, that looks like a pretty significant amount of charging by Wilson. This isn't like Giordano's BS major penalty last year where the player just ran into him with his head down.
What is Wilson supposed to do in this situation? The situation being, an opposing player cutting through the slot with his head down, intent on shooting.
remember it's a meaningless preseason game and let up a bit?
considering the guys history, I'd give him 10 games.
I don’t think Wilson went all out. That hit could have been worse. But that’s not the point.
As a defensive player in that situation, Wilson has to do something. He chose to hit. I don’t think that’s the correct choice and I am asking the question with the intent of driving conversation towards what it is we should expect Wilson to do instead. He can’t just let an opposing player walk through the slot... or can he?
Truth is, I don’t know what I think about this kind of thing. Is this result an inevitable consequence of allowing open ice hitting? Seems to me that trying to draw lines between what’s ok and what’s not (was the player defenceless, was his head down, was there head contact, etc.) is extremely difficult/subjective.
Why not? Guys go right through the slot dozens of times a game. Someone probably skates through the slot every shift.
But not with the puck (I imagine would be the next response).
Well, he had already shot the puck for one thing. And for another, yes someone skates through the slot with the puck multiple times a game. That does not give another player the right to demolish a vulnerable player with a predatory hit.
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To those saying he should have let up because it's a pre-season game... would you be fine with this hit in the regular season? Playoffs? Would you be fine with a marginal player who is trying to make the team doing it? I am curious what the line is.
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Yeah, even the whole timing between when the puck was released and when the hit was made is bunk, as far as arguments go. Wilson had a long look on the way in, he wasn't bloody well surprised when the shot was released.
Sundqvist was again focused on the direction the play was going. Not like he made any sudden moves, just made himself vulnerable.
Wilson was 20+ feet at least away when he started shooting, it looked like about still 10-12 based on a quick pause of the frame when the puck was released. Plenty of time and room to avoid crushing a vulnerable guy.
This won't be popular but you can't fix guys like Wilson with suspensions and fines. Before these teams play again they need to call up their own goons and have them go to the Caps bench and tell Backstrom, Ovi, Kuznetsov that they are coming after them and to thank Tom Wilson.
The only thing that will stop idiots like this are peer consequences, and by peer i mean his own teammates telling him to smarten up.
Can't wait for the NHLPA to "stand up" fir the suspended player and ignore the injured constituent again. Morons.
His teammates aren't going to say anything against him. They probably love him.
Same as Reeve's hitting Brodie. Having that monster on their team probably make's them all breath easier. He took out one of our best players and our guys wouldn't even look him in the eye.
If any of those stars kept their head down like that going through the middle for the last ten years they'd have experienced this multiple times already.
