The NHL Player Security Department announced Saturday morning that Washington Capitals striker Tom Wilson was offered a personal hearing for “boarding” Boston Bruins defender Brandon Carlo in the final minutes of the Bruins’ 5-game win. -1 on Caps on Friday night.
Tom Wilson, from Washington, was offered a personal audience via Zoom for Brandon Carlo of Boarding Boston. Date and time to be set.
– NHL player security (@NHLPlayerSafety) March 6, 2021
By offering a personal audience, the league now reserves the right to suspend Tom Wilson’s games or more. Wilson’s last suspension came after the pre-season final for the Capitals and St. Louis Blues in September 2018 for a great success at striker Oskar Sundqvist. The league fell heavily on Tom Wilson at the time, arresting him with a 20-game suspension, but after he played 16 games, he was reduced to 14 games and he was able to recover the lost wages for two games. At the time, this was Wilson’s fourth suspension in 105 games, so he was considered a repeat offender, but he has since switched that label to having gone through 166 games without a significant incident.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, and specifically winger Mark Jankowski, may disagree with that after Wilson hit him on February 25.
The blow to Carlo was not called on the ice and as TSN Insider Frank Seravalli pointed out, the fact that it is being called ‘boarding’ by the Player Security Department means that this will not be a hearing to determine whether Rule 48 (illegal blow to the head) has been violated. Tom Wilson will likely become the first player suspended for ‘boarding’.
Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy described the scam as predatory.
“Well, listen, it’s a quick game; they play a lot, we play a lot, ”said Cassidy after the game on Friday night. “But I mean you can see, he clearly hit him over the head. Brandon is in an ambulance; goes to a hospital obviously because of that scam. It seemed clearly that he hit him in the head. It is a helpless player and a predatory blow from a player who has done this before. “
Cassidy, like many who watched the coup, could not understand why there was no penalty on the ice.
“So, I don’t understand why there was no penalty imposed on the ice,” said Cassidy dumbfounded. “They got together, but I didn’t get an explanation of why, but it’s out of our hands after that, we just have to play hockey after that and try to be together as a team and play the right way. Sometimes, when these things happen and there is no call, the players sort of settle on the ice in their own way. We felt that we stepped back and did what we could do, won the hockey game and tried to let that particular player know that it was unnecessary. That’s how we handled it and, as I said, I suppose it will be analyzed by the National Hockey League and they will make their decision. “