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News has come down from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.........and Tom Wilson has been suspended for three games.
Washington’s Tom Wilson suspended three games for an illegal check to the head on Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese. https://t.co/rrZ8Hp3XkE
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) May 2, 2018
The Capitals winger skated freely after his headshot on Brian Dumoulin on Sunday, but he didn’t get away so easily after concussing and breaking the jaw of Zach Aston-Reese last night.
For another look at the hit:
Another hit to the head by Tom Wilson pic.twitter.com/PAiErjxNPF
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 2, 2018
It’s long overdue that this guy has been suspended, given that the officials on the ice deemed it unnecessary to call a single penalty on either hit against Dumoulin or Aston-Reese. You might even consider this to be a cumulative suspension, with DoPS knowing they dropped the ball on the first one.
It’s highly plausible that the NHL may not have acted if the Penguins had not come out and said that Aston-Reese had suffered both a concussion and a broken jaw.
I’m sure Wilson will learn from this suspension and change the way he plays the game.