How many games does he get? Does the league need to revisit what is and isn’t a clean hit in the NHL?
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37 Comments
Ive been watching the NHL network since i got home from work at 4 pm. It is now 7pm and the day of the hearing. They still will not talk about this. There are four matches going and they only talk about the other three current playoff pairings.
Shannon is bang on. Get rid the headshots they do nothing but harm. Wilson should have been dinged earlier in the playoffs.
This is not a borderline hit Shannon. I understand where you’re coming from, but this textbook headhunting. This isn’t one of those legal hits that should be illegal. It was simply an illegal hit
I miss old time hockey, these guys should know what they signed up for. If you can’t stand the consequences of playing hard hockey then don’t play
I totally agree with you a guy at the place we’re I was living at who I counted as a friend came down with damencha and he was only in his early 60s and had to move to a retirement home it’s no fun I hope the nhl dose something
People who say this is clean…
Trotz and Beagle said that Wilson was not laughing after the hit against ZAR. He was laughing about something one of his teammates on the bench said regarding the boos from the Penguins fans. Trotz is right there behind the players on the bench, and of course Beagle was there as well. Tom would never laugh at someone who was injured, even Trotz said so himself. Someone heartless would do that, like a Marchand or Thornton. Or Buff. I do realize that Wilson has a bad rap now, and he did get away with the previous hits in Columbus and game 2 of this series. So I do feel he will get suspended, but it was not intent to injure. And while I may not like the suspension (should it come), I will not raise Cain either.
He did not leave his feet, he is a good 5 inches taller than ZAR. And every single clip I have seen shows shoulder to shoulder, and unfortunately shoulder to jaw. Those shoulder protectors are pretty damn hard, so I'm sure that caused the broken jaw to Anton Reese. I am not attempting to start an argument, and I respect your opinion on the matter. I am just tired of people treating him like a goon and he's not anywhere near Marchand status yet. And yes, I do agree that Wilson skating a fine line. And I feel that he did cross it last night, but I disagree on it being a dirty hit.
I think the NHL tells the refs to let things go and not call the first penalty they see because its all about tv ratings and entertainment. They think its great tv and for some people thats why they watch is for the fights and big hits. If I am scanning the tv channels and notice Nascar is on, I will watch a few minutes to see if theres a crash. Same thing. Its great TV and its better entertainment is what I think the NHL is thinking. What ever boosts TV ratings. I think it will take a significant career or life ending injury for the league to do something about it. There should be huge fines for the wilson.
Long time viewer, never commented. First, I want to get out that I am a Caps fan. But secondly, I want to explain that Wilson was not laughing at Aston-Reese and happy he hurt him. You can see the video of Beagle telling something funny and Wilson laughing afterward. Probably something to do with how much Pitt hates him and the booing. I still agree that it was an inappropriate time to laugh but it was not at Aston-Reese
The moment I saw the hit I thought at least 3 game suspension. He left his feet, league doesn't care for players launching themselves for a hit.
I really wish I could remember what happened that one time I took a shoulder on shoulder hit on the ice, but I broke my jaw and got a concussion from the contact…to my shoulder. All jokes aside the hit probably wasn’t avoidable at the speed they were going, however Wilson didn’t have to go high. I’m sure an old school hip check would have been perfectly fine there but there’s no reason to go up high with the hit. The hit was definitely suspension worthy but given the history of the Pens and Caps it might just be one game.
That’s a clean hit
He's going to come back and continue to hit the penguins players and continue to be annoying. While I sit back and enjoy it
Wilson knows damn well what he is doing. Should he have been suspended for his hit (off his feet into the head) on Alexander Wennberg in the first round! Dudes a thug and the league failed all the way since game two of the first round.
3 playoff games.. wow for a hit that started in the chest and went up through the head. Is it more because the league protects Pittsburg.. yes
wilson got three games
I say end Wilson’s career because people like him shouldn’t be allowed to play hockey. I’m all for a good hit into the boards but not something like that. My vote is to ban Wilson and anyone like him from anywhere
I would've agreed with a suspension on Wilson's hit on Dumoulin in game 2. This one was a clean one though…
37K subscribers and counting…
Dale Hunter, a horseman who cought fight, chirp, and light the lamp in OT. The greatest captain in the history of the franchise. I do agree that the league needs to take a more proactive approach to reduce the occurrence of TBI and CTE. I have a background in medicine and health science education and strongly feel player safely should take precedence. However, as a longtime hockey fan, I also cannot help but think back to the 90s era NHL and that style of play many of us fondly remember from our childhood and years past. Undoubtedly, the game will continue to evolve. Here’s also hoping my Caps can somehow find a way to win this series without Wilson. Like Shannon said in a previous video, I too, would be surprised.
Dale Hunter was a dirty player. As much as I wanted to like the Capitals…I never could because of Dale Hunter. This is coming from a die hard Redskins fan.
Vancouver based Caps fan checking in, as much as i like Wilson's hard hitting style, i agree he deserves suspension. I pulled some dirty shit in Inline Hockey but i never smiled when a guy went down. He should have respect for his opponent and understand that the guy is bleeding from the head and can barely get up. If you take the time and effort to lay a guy out you should at least hope that the guy can skate off on his own will afterwards. There's no place for intentionally laying a guy out and laughing about it on the bench. He needs to smarten up and stay disciplined out there.
NHL got it right. I said much of what they said, as did others. For those of you who said Wilson didn't leave his feet, you need to check all of the angles.
The one problem with these type of hits is what the NHL said in their announcement, namely, that leaving your feet as part of preparing for a hit is not automatically illegal. That must change. Look at the hit versus the Blue Jackets. Wilson did the same type of thing, the only difference being that it was not clear how much head contact there was so no suspension. Players crouch down a bit to deliver hits, in part to brace themselves, but they need to be penalized when it is clear that they push up to the point of leaving the ice BEFORE impact. That extra push off causes the severity to be much worse. Skates will automatically come off of the ice AFTER there is impact, but they should not be allowed to come off of the ice BEFORE. No jumping motion should be allowed.
Also as I said elsewhere, hits that lead with the top and/or corner of the shoulder should be banned (compared to hits with the upper-arm/bicep area). That is how many of these head shots are occurring. No jumping before impact, even a split second before impact, and no leading with the top or corner of the shoulder. That is how to reduce injuries and still allow for hard hitting. The refs might miss this in live action but when there is an injury on the ice, they should be allowed to review the video. Also, the league can of course review things later.
For my part, in a playoff series, I would allow the team with an injured player to choose one player, other than a goalie, that must miss the rest of the playoff series whenever a player is suspended for causing an injury with an illegal hit, otherwise, some goon can go head hunting against another team's star and knock him out of the series and even if the goon is suspended, it doesn't really hurt his team. In terms of fairness to the star that also sits along with the suspended player even if he did nothing wrong, it is a team game so this will just be part of playing a team sport, and I am not saying that the star doesn't get paid, just no ice time for that series. This way players will police their teammates, not just players on the other team. Think about that. Right now Ovechkin would be gone for the series. You think that the Caps players would put up with Wilson and hist history of cheap shots if that was the case? Wilson would be warned by his team never to do that again or he is cut. And if cut, I would make the CBA say he doesn't get paid. As for the union agreeing, they either care about safety or not. If not, screw them and let the head shots continue and all the players can go drop dead. It would be their fault for not standing up for their own health. If yes, my idea will work because teams' stars will be benched each time we have an incident like this. As for the regular season, something like the star being benched during the rest of the regular season and the playoffs against that team could be the rule. Draconian punishment is the way to change behavior, not a few games where a goon is suspended, his team loses nothing and the other team could lose a key player.
Awesome Video! Looking forward to watching your analysis, throughout the series and beyond! -A Pittsburgh Native
I agree, these kind of hits shouldn't be allowed, there are plenty of ways wilson could have hit astin-reese and he used the shoulder. pushing him down with his hands on his shoulders would have been just as devastating. There's a culture of head hits being more bad ass or something and it's just dumb, and until the rules change that mind set won't change. What I'm more afraid of is if they don't suspend him, what will happen to Wilson, I don't want to see paruzzi incident, I don't wish that on anyone. These things tend to breed retribution, and it is the nhls job to stop that from happening.
I just want guys to be safe on the ice, and that should be everyone's main concern.
I didn't think the hit was that bad– and I hate that piece of garbage, Wilson. The thing with Wilson is he likes to lunge as he's making the hit. You can see the pricks feet left the ice. I hope somebody Steve Moore's that jerk one day. I want to see him taken off the ice in a coma.
The Wilson smirk and Aston Reece broken jaw got him the 3 game suspension.
Surprised it wasn't called a penalty during the game.
Some humility would have saved him a game or two.
Dirty hit, bottom line.
Wilson was not smiling while Aston-Reese was on the ice, it was a minute after he left the ice and a teammate made a joke about all of his fans in the arena.
I would also like to point out that at this point in time players know the risk and can make the decision not to play, they are responsible for their health as well.
Last point, body hits with no head contact can cause concussions due to whiplash/quick movements of the head, so if you want concussions eliminated, all hits need to be eliminated.
POS
Completely agree. And I am a Caps fan.
I am in the UK and play a lot of rugby. They have changed laws, bought in concussion protocols etc…and it is still a huge talking point. ANY kind of suspected concussion on a player is now a minimum 21 days out of the game. As you said, it's a BRAIN injury not head. If Wilson learns to bend his knees and hit lower (never skated just love watching hockey so no idea how hard that is) these 'should've been' hits wouldn't exist. It starts with coaching. Hopefully this is a transition phase as our understanding of concussions has increased and it is all but gone in a year or two.
I gotta say that this video really changed my mindset on hard border line hits. I'm playing college hockey right now and I always seem to forget about the long term side effects. Thank you so much Shannon!
If Reese didn't have his head up he would have had a broken neck and could have very well died on the ice. I was having the exact same thoughts as hockey guy before I watched this video.
You can clean hockey up without removing hitting or even fights. But every guy is going to suffer brain damage. Concussions are less about the hit than the abrupt ceasing of momentum for the body and skeleton while the brain sloshes around in its fluid membrane smacking into the inside of the skull as it's inertia carries it. F=M/A. These illegal hits have a lot more to do with blunt force trauma to the head and more important the neck. Like a boxer laying a punch that turns the head just a little to far too fast and cuts off the power. Or in this case a busted jaw. Anyone who's never felt the how hard hockey pads actually are can't know just how brutal a well placed elbow or a full force shoulder to the face can be. Smacking your head on the ice won't ever help much either, but that's less of a factor than most would think, it becomes worse when someone is already KO'd on thier way down. The games have changed, that's all that should need said. But the NHL is still enamored with old breed, still revere blood on the ice, teeth plucked out on the bench, stitches and stains and brains caved in for reasons…. Trouble is it no longer sells tickets in most markets. It's become a bad joke that hurts a good product. And no franchise has room to talk. None. It's conditional to hockey to have guys that will toe and cross the line if it gets a W. I hope you're wrong about it taking a guy getting erased on the ice, but I bet you're right.
I'll say this. In football, just like with hocky, you know what you're getting into. But it would be nice TO NOT GET CONCUSSED
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