Washington Capitals: Tom Wilson right to appeal suspension

Tom Wilson has received backlash after deciding to appeal his suspension to an arbitrator, but the Washington Capitals winger’s decision is justified.

Tom Wilson has yet to step out onto the ice with the Washington Capitals in the 2018-19 regular season. Despite this, his actions have drawn the ire of NHL fans across the league.

Wilson, as most hockey fans will know, was given a 20 game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Oskar Sundqvist in a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues. Even considering his status as a repeat offender, that number certainly caught the attention of the hockey world.

Barring any reduction in games played, this 20 game suspension ranks as the fifth-longest in NHL history. There are two ways to interpret this. Either Wilson’s actions are among the NHL’s most despicable or it indicates a shift in the way the league handles head injuries.

That first interpretation is absolutely unfair to Wilson, as none of his hits, however dangerous, rank anywhere near as dirty or despicable as the few suspensions above him, including Dale Hunter, who received 21 games for this hit.

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Any fan who believes Wilson’s actions are in any way remotely comparable to those of Hunter is objectively wrong and most likely biased. As such, the 20 game suspension must be due to the NHL taking head injuries more seriously.

What that means, then, is that this new precedent must be kept consistent in the future. And credit to the NHL, they seem to have set an explicit formula for calculating such suspensions, as Gary Bettman explained.

"“The evidence in the record suggests that Mr. Parros applied a ‘three times’ multiplier to Mr. Wilson’s most recent suspension which he valued at six Regular Season Games (‘two times’ three Playoff Games) to arrive at an eighteen game base suspension – to which he then added two additional games on account of Mr. Sundqvist’s injury – for a total of twenty.”"

In the immediate aftermath of this ruling, the NHL has kept this consistent. Mark Borowiecki, after serving a one-game suspension earlier in the season, was suspended three games for his second suspension after another high hit, an amount that is in line with the formula described above.

All of this is to say that the NHL has really approached this hot-button issue very admirably. Now, it is not like the league had to take a very courageous stance, given how hated Wilson is, but given its history of ignoring CTE and other head-related injuries, it indicates progress.

However, where the NHL has failed to exhibit that same progress has to do with its players’ conduct off of the ice, and this is where the league has painted itself into a corner. Recall, before the suspension was levied, when I wrote the following:

"There is absolutely no way Wilson deserves anything remotely close to [27 games]. The allegations against Watson are so heinous that 27 games is pretty much the absolute cap for any suspendable infraction, and it may be years before anything warrants that punishment."

Obviously, this was in relation to the 27 game suspension that Austin Watson received after pleading no contest to domestic violence charges. I considered that to be the absolute cap for any NHL suspension not directly related to an off-ice incident of similar gravity or worse.

While I expected 10 to 15 games for Wilson, the 20 game mark was well within the confines of that 27 game limit the NHL had imposed upon itself. Had they given Watson the much lengthier suspension his actions deserved, they may have justified a longer suspension for Wilson as well.

This point really cannot be overstated – nothing that happens on the ice, barring assault, can be argued to be worse than a domestic violence charge. Even if one believes such a charge should not mean the end of a player’s career, 27 games is far too lenient.

While this fact is now painfully obvious in hindsight, it was just as true beforehand as well. A player can receive multiple suspensions for high hits and still deserve to have an NHL career. If a player is charged with domestic violence more than once, his career is over, and rightfully so.

Because of that, the NHL should have thrown the book at Watson, and made an example of him, just as they did with the Capitals winger. Given that the suspension was likely to be shortened on appeal, he should have received at least 40-50 games, if not the whole season.

By doing so, even a reduced suspension would have still likely clocked in at 25-30 games or more, which is far more reasonable for domestic violence than what ended up happening. As most fans know, neutral arbitrator Shyam Das cut Watson’s suspension to a paltry 18 games.

This means that, whether the league likes it or not, the standard for suspension due to domestic violence in the NHL is 18 games. The league now has two options: write out an explicit policy for such violations, or keep all other suspensions well below that mark.

Hopefull,y steps are already being taken to address that first option, but it is too late now for it to affect the case of the Washington Capitals winger. Which is why for both him and the NHLPA, the decision to appeal his case to an arbitrator is not just understandable, but completely justified.

A quick note: while I am not going to get too deep into the Das verdict here, let it be clear that I am in no way supporting his decision to shorten the suspension. Given his history of questionable decisions, the NHL would do well to cut ties with him.

Now, before I get into the reasons why Wilson is right to appeal his suspension, I will address two opinions I have noticed from hockey fans: first, that Bettman or the arbitrator should add more games to the suspension, and second, that the appeal shows that Wilson has learned nothing.

To start, no, Wilson should not receive even more games for appealing his suspension. Not only would that lead to issues with comparisons to the Watson suspension as detailed earlier, it is completely antithetical to the entire purpose of the legal/justice system in this country.

If criminals received lengthier suspensions as punishment for appealing, there would be a massive and righteous uproar about it. Hopefully, these comments were simply made in jest, as they are, frankly, not worth dignifying with further discussion.

The second train of thought is admittedly more subjective, but arguably equally absurd. For one, the Capitals undoubtedly have Wilson currently practicing and training to become a more well-rounded player who can avoid crossing the line on hits like he has in the past.

His appealing the suspension does not change that at all. But for the sake of argument, even if Wilson was only interested in shortening the suspension, it is still his right to do so. And that, in and of itself, should be enough justification to completely cut off this line of thinking.

The fact of the matter is that, by the time a decision is reached, Wilson will have served almost all of his suspension. While I am sure he wants to be out with the Washington Capitals sooner rather than later, he will have served his time and “paid his debts to the league,” so to speak.

All of the above are explanations for why Wilson has elected to take his case to a neutral arbitrator, but does not necessarily justify the fact that this pathway exists. To examine that, however, the party of interest is not Wilson, but rather the NHLPA.

There is a chance, however minute, that Wilson himself is actually not interested in appealing. After all, two months to adapt to a safer style of play would be a great way to ensure that he does not cross the line again, as the punishment will be even more severe next time.

By doing so, though, Wilson is doing a disservice to the NHLPA, a group that has fought for this appeals procedure to be put in place. To ignore this would be akin to turning his back on his fellow players, as it would set a precedent that could allow the league to restrict the group’s power.

In addition, the primary reason why a suspension can even be appealed is not even to have additional playing time: it is to recoup some of the money lost. The NHLPA was formed to ensure the financial well-being of its players, and this is part of it.

This also explains why the NHLPA seems to be supporting Wilson rather than Sundqvist, the man he hurt. Sundqvist will get paid while injured, Wilson loses his pay while suspended. The NHLPA’s first priority is money, and that is why the players are a part of it in the first place.

Putting that aside, there is still another reason why he is justified in appealing his suspension further, and it has to do with the Watson case. Tom Wilson should not settle for his punishment being more excessive than that of someone who pleaded no contest to domestic violence.

Imagine for a second how Nate Schmidt feels right now. He is serving a 20 game suspension for trace amounts of illegal substances in his system. It is absolutely egregious that his punishment is more severe than that of Watson, and Wilson should not settle for the same fate.

It may seem as though I am trying to defend Wilson’s actions on the ice as a member of the Capitals. Let it be clear that this is not my intention. Instead, I am hoping to provide some context as to why he would even elect to appeal his suspension again.

In light of what has occurred with the Austin Watson situation, 20 games is egregious. While I am glad that the NHL appears to finally be taking head injuries seriously, they should have thrown the book at Watson, and hopefull,y the outcome here influences some change.

Be sure to let us know what you think about the Tom Wilson situation in the comment section below, or if there is anything in here that you agree or disagree with.