Wilson is fair game.
Bullies usually won't stand up to a better man.
Case and point: The above video.
Turn around is fair play in my books.
- shoreorrpark

Who knows? Maybe getting his bell rung like that might make him be more empathetic to players he tries to decapitate. Probably not, but one can hope.

What isn't being said by the Caps is that they WANT Wilson to play this way. His head coach Reirdon does especially. Coaches like having that physical force on the bench. That x factor who can impose his will and make his teammates feel braver. We all saw how the Caps held a physical edge over Vegas in the SCF. Now Wilson is a dirt bag. He's always been a dirt bag and he will continue being a dirt bag. He knows no other way. Same as Marchand. What's the over under on his next cheapshot? 5.5 games? This is when I miss the good ol' days of hockey. Well for me anyway as I grew up in the 80s. Probert, Kocur, Twist, McSorley, Semenko, Gillies, etc would make short work of Mr. FAKE Tough guy Tom Wilson. I'd love to see Messier in his prime square off against this turd ball hiding behind the Instigator Rule. But this will never happen. It was predicted when this rule was originated in the early 90s that the rats would take over the game. Kenny Linesman is somewhere smiling.
- gergeswillems

^this.
Great points about Washington wanting Wilson to play this was. Wilson is a POS but a very useful player. Seems to me the head coach wants him to do this because he can’t be as stupid as he sounded defending it. But I could be wrong.

Paul - Great article. And a great job by the Refs dealing with the Seney hit.

Hey Paul met you at Acadia University. Congrats on your Hall of fame induction.

Can the NHLPA create a vote with the players to have mandatory year long suspensions/lifetime expulsion for dirty plays? Steve Montador is DEAD from his injuries yet the needless cheapshots continue. How can the TV network owners who really control Bettman have a pointless fighting instigator penalty that ENCOURAGES dirty players to injure opponents which triggers fights anyway? The dirty player's team is rewarded with a powerplay. Don't the owners want their star players to be as healthy as possible to draw in more fans? TV ratings drop if stars are hurt.

Can the NHLPA create a vote with the players to have mandatory year long suspensions/lifetime expulsion for dirty plays? Steve Montador is DEAD from his injuries yet the needless cheapshots continue. How can the TV network owners who really control Bettman have a pointless fighting instigator penalty that ENCOURAGES dirty players to injure opponents which triggers fights anyway? The dirty player's team is rewarded with a powerplay. Don't the owners want their star players to be as healthy as possible to draw in more fans? TV ratings drop if stars are hurt.
- fatty_mcmanboobs

The problem is that CTE still isn't quite as well understood as we'd like. That study that showed 98% of ex NFL players had it was extremely flawed. The biggest being they only looked at players that had had symptoms. And also CTE is caused by repeated, read, thousands, of hits. Routine plays where a player is jostled. No head contact required, every time a players falls to the field or ice is going to rattle your head even if you don't hit it. You don't even need to hit your head to get a concussion, it's merely the easiest way. That's the "chronic" part of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Being a star player in the NHL is the worst out of the major sports because "no one is bigger than the team". The NHL does a terrible job of promoting its stars. And they allow rampant obstruction to slow them down as well. Star players shine in spite of all the bullpoop slashing, hooking, holding and interference they put up with on a shift to shift basis. It's quite frankly disgusting. Fans don't pay to see Brian Dumoulin(not saying he's that, just a mid-tier guy that popped into my head) holding up McDavid, Matthews, Eichel and the like from flying around putting their skills on display. I really hope it gets addressed in the next CBA, but I doubt it. Also much stiffer fines, this $15K max fine after a $10K fine is absurd. Starting dinging guys with game checks or $25K, whichever is more. Repeat offenders need to have multiples of past suspensions, not adding a game or 2. And with a much shorter leash. Tom Wilson ended up with a 14 game suspension after 4 suspensions in a calendar year. That can't happen in the future.

Paul this is the frustrating thing that fans have noticed for years regarding the NHL: INCONSISTENCY.

I remember cursing you and then later going thank God he's reffing. Here's the thing, you can have a guy get high sticked no one calls it but it requires a stoppage and the officials gather and make a correction and the right call. Then another game, one official make a call on a goal becsuse it looks from his perspective like goaltender interference but it turns out the player was shoved and no correction. The replay comes on and everyone, including the ref knows.

From there you get the serious things. I havr seen teams late in the season go predator mode on young players that are destroying the league. Often a rookie does not receive the same calls that a star does, much like when fourth liners are on the ice and can get overly crosschecked and tripped and everything else without a call unless there is overt maliciousness or it is far too obvious. Fourth lines today are not like fourth lines of yester-year. Often these kids can play just do not have the knack to finish or create at the highest level. But they can skate well enough to cause the lower pairing dmen to commit offenses that go uncalled.

Speaking of which, the art of the body check is lost. Instead the crosscheck is used away from the net and is not called. Subban often checks with his forearm and that is somehow legal.

It's frankly a mess. It detracts from the game. You almost wish there were no calls.

Paul...question...
What is the criteria for the linesmen to step in on a fight? Not sure if you saw the Flames/Oilers game (Dec 9th) but both Peluso and Lucic were not happy the Linesmen jumped in when they did.

Seems woefully inconsistent, especially these days.

I read Bill Meltzer's blog today.
Enjoy your night tomorrow. Congratulations.