The NHLPA Arguing That Tom Wilson Shouldn't Have Been Suspended At All Is Pretty Disgusting
So by now I’m sure that all of you know that Gary Bettman decided to uphold Tom Wilson’s 20-game suspension today. Is 20 games a pretty outrageous number? Absolutely. But is being suspended for the 4th time in 105 games also an outrageous number? For sure. So eventually you have to send a message to a guy to quit living his life on the line and I’m sure that 20 games + $1 million will do that for Wilson. It’s the DoPS and Gary Bettman’s job to make sure that this current generation of NHL players don’t suffer the same fate as some of the older generations who are currently dealing with applesauce brains and suing the league because they did nothing to prevent those brain injuries from happening. And they both did their jobs here by handing out and upholding the 20-game suspension to Wilson. Now the group who didn’t do their job is the NHLPA. Because this right here is flat out disgusting.
Listen. I get it. It’s the NHLPA’s job to defend Tom Wilson here. They have to have the side of the player when they go to appeals like this. But to say “there should have no no supplementary discipline of any kind nor suspension of any duration” is crazy talk. That’s like saying Jeffrey Dahmer should be a free man. Not only is it crazy talk, but it’s a bullshit move that throws Oskar Sundqvist under the bus here. Sundqvist is also represented by the NHLPA so imagine being him right now. He hasn’t been able to play in a game yet this year and the union that supposedly represents him is telling the league that there was nothing wrong at all with the hit that completely fucked his skull (in a non-sexual manner). Basically what the NHLPA is arguing here is that Tom Wilson’s wallet is more important than Oskar Sundqvist’s brain. That’s all there really is to it. The NHLPA doesn’t want Wilson to lose $1 million in salary and they’re willing to say whatever to make that happen. It’s cowardly.
Now if the NHLPA went in there and argued that Wilson should only be suspended for 5 games, then you know what? I’d say that they were doing their job and they were doing it responsibly. Not only were they defending their guy but they also at least agreed that there should be some blame put on the player for the reputation that he built up, and that 5 games should be a worthy punishment. And if that were the case and the two sides agreed to meet somewhere between 10-15 games, that would be fine with me as well. But to go into a negotiation and argue for zero games is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. The only thing that could possibly save the NHLPA on this one is if they agreed so much that Wilson deserves the full 20 games that they just threw that appeals process on purpose.
So here’s my TL;DR: The Tom Wilson hit on Oskar Sundqvist wasn’t necessarily a hit that–on its own–should have landed him a 20 game suspension. But when you get a 2nd chance and a 3rd chance and a 4th chance and you still can’t clean it up, the league eventually has to pull some drastic measures to get their point across. Does this set a bad precedent for “questionable” hits landing players a 20 game suspension? No it does not. Because this is Wilson’s 4th suspension in 105 games so it’s a pretty unique situation. 20 games is aggressive but when you take Tom Wilson’s “lifetime achievements” into consideration, it’s justified. 10-15 would be the perfect amount but I’m not going to complain about the extra games tacked on at the end there. Oskar Sundqvist should be pissed off right now that the NHLPA essentially turned their back on him. Like I said before, I know it’s their job to defend Wilson but they just put it out there on the record that they care more about a player’s wallet than a player’s brain. And that’s bullshit.