Buckle up folks, tonight’s 7pm ET game between the Rangers and Capitals just became can’t miss TV. For those who find themselves in the “fighting doesn’t belong in hockey camp” you may want to avert your eyes. Following Monday night’s feisty affair between the Eastern Conference rivals which saw the Caps emerge victorious 6-3, both franchises have been trading barbs in the media heading into tonight’s rematch. And with the NHL department of player safety seemingly unwilling to dole out any kind of satisfactory justice, the New York Rangers may be looking to take matters into their own hands Wednesday.
The incident in question came at the midway point of the 2nd period Monday night. Following a scrum in front of the net in which repeat offender Tom Wilson punched a defenseless Rangers player in the back of the head a full on line brawl ensued, with a nervous looking Igor Shesterkin watching from the far end of the rink. From there, Wilson somehow managed to get a hold of star winger Artemi Panarin and slammed him to the ice and all hell broke loose.
Word from the Rangers camp is that Panarin is likely to miss the remainder of the regular season as a result of an injury suffered in the melee. Reaction from fans and sports pundits around the country was swift and furious, with many calling for Wilson to be barred from the NHL all together in light of his most recent overstep. As eyes turned to George Parros and the department of player safety to see what kind of punitive measures would be doled out, the smart thing to do would have been to let sleeping dogs lay. Unfortunately, the Washington Capitals social media team elected to pour gasoline on the matter with a since deleted tweet, claiming that Wilson lives rent free in the Rangers heads:
It was announced the following day that Wilson would be fined $5,000 (the maximum amount under the current CBA) but would not miss any games as a result of his actions. This slap on the wrist sent many Rangers fans, as well as nearly everyone who doesn’t cheer for the Washington Capitals into the stratosphere. It also shows once again that the league is more than happy to talk about “cleaning the game up” but when offered an opportunity to do just that, will choose the “boys will be boys” mentality time and again.
Wilson, who has already been suspended by the league on 5 separate occasions, and fined twice more, is more than just a repeat offender at this point. He’s a liability on the ice. Those seven disciplinary actions are damning enough, but the reality is that there are dozens of other instances where he blatantly crossed a line and wasn’t punished (ex: in a 2018 first round playoff series, Wilson received a charging penalty on a hit that knocked Alex Wennberg out of the game, but avoided any kind of further discipline because the league claimed they couldn’t find a good camera angle of the incident).
The Rangers organization was apoplectic at the news that there wouldn’t be any further discipline on Wilson, especially given his history. Unlike the Capitals who took down their Wilson barb after receiving backlash, the Rangers have left up their scathing condemnation of the department of player safety, and George Parros himself:
New York has reason to be upset with the league. People pay to watch players like Panarin out on the ice. Tom Wilson doesn’t sell tickets. Panarin is the direction the league has been selling itself as for the last 5 years, fast, skilled, and exciting to watch. Wilson is a throwback to the designated goon days. To his credit, no one gets under an opponent’s skin better than Tom Wilson, not even Brad Marchand. He’s also maximized his skill set as well, often running shotgun with Backstrom and Ovechkin on Washington’s top line most evenings. But make no mistake about it, Wilson isn’t on the Capitals roster to rack up points, he’s there to throw the opposition off their game. With a career high of only 44pts, his career points to penalty minute ratio is 1:4.95, meaning that for every point he registers, he takes the equivalent of a fighting major in return. And in all likelihood, he’ll be adding to that penalty minute total in a big way Wednesday evening.
With the Rangers mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at this point, and their star winger on the injured list, officials are going to have their hands full tonight. Wilson will have to answer the bell, but the question is how far do the Rangers take things? Does someone take a run at Ovechkin or Backstrom as retribution? How far does “the code” of hockey extend when it comes to situations where the league fails to police itself accordingly?
If the league feels queasy about the prospect of losing another star player to injury tonight (potentially missing playoff games as a result) they have only themselves to blame. You can look at the long list of NHL missteps in the past, from their stance on CTE, to their mishandling of fines and suspensions. But the fact of the matter is the people they’ve put in place to dole out “justice” tend to be on the brash/enforcer side of things. George Parros may be Princeton educated, but aside from throwing his fair share of fists during his heyday, what exactly qualifies him for the role?
The NHL department of player safety has had George Parros, Brendan Shanahan, Stephane Quintal, and Colin Campbell (all with over 1000 penalty minutes in their careers), as well as Brian Burke (who’s never been afraid of professing his love for old time hockey) as their department heads in the past few years. When you’re constantly putting the same type of individual in charge of something, it’s no wonder you aren’t getting different results (by Einstein’s definition, the NHL would literally be insane).
This isn’t to say that the department shouldn’t have someone who was used to playing “at the edge” of what is acceptable in the NHL as part of their brain trust, but they need to have a counterbalance to play devil’s advocate. Why not have someone like Eric Lindros, or Paul Kariya who had their careers cut short because of injuries suffered by incidents that were blatantly over the line as part of the conversation? Having a group of 3-5 individuals who review and vote on supplementary discipline may not be a perfect solution, but you would have to assume they couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve seen over the last decade.
Whatever the league decides to do, they cannot proceed with the status quo. It’s one thing when analysts and talk show hosts question your decisions, that’s their job. But when players, and even organizations are no longer feigning attempts to hide their disdain for the process, you’ve clearly got an issue on your hands. Which makes Wednesday night’s rematch all the more interesting. What happens once the puck drops may cause a chain reaction that extends well beyond just Madison Square Garden, effecting change across the league. It’s time for the NHL to practice what they preach. If they don’t, then don’t be surprised when teams take matters into their own hands.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @dynessports