Tonight it was announced that Tom Wilson has been offered an in person hearing for his hit to the head of St. Louis Blues player Oskar Sundqvist.
Washington’s Tom Wilson has been offered an in-person hearing for an Illegal Check to the Head on St. Louis’ Oskar Sundqvist. Date and time TBD.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) October 1, 2018
Wilson was assessed a match penalty for an Illegal Check to the Head. Now after looking at some footage with alternate angles I have some thoughts going into this hearing, but first let’s look at some footage first:
Tom Wilson crushes Oskar Sundqvist. Wilson has been ejected. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/RuNKjC2fFi
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) September 30, 2018
Another look at Wilson’s hit on Sundqvist. #stlblues #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/bNY6REffGh
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) September 30, 2018
Now I’ve watched this back a few times and there are some points that I need to point out. First off Wilson is in a glide, and makes no forward strides towards Sundqvist to initiate the hit. Secondly, Wilson does not leave his feet when delivering the hit on Sunqvist.
Offering Wilson an in-person hearing gives NHL the option to suspend for more than 5 games. Keys to this hearing will be 1) is the head the main point of contact and 2) was it avoidable.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 1, 2018
Now as mentioned in the tweet above by Elliotte Friedman of “Hockey Night in Canada”, there are two things that need to be looked at. One being was the head the point of contact? In all angles that we have seen it’s hard to decipher if the answer is yes or no. Sundqvist is playing the puck and is in a more slouched position, so it makes his head more prone for contact, but it doesn’t mean that the head was the point of contact.
The next thing that Friedman brings up is was the hit avoidable? The answer to this in my opinion is maybe. It looks like Wilson had Sundqvist locked in for a shoulder on shoulder hit and was already committed to the hit. Unfortunately while Sundqvist was playing the puck his positioning changed very slightly, so it’s tough to say at that precise moment the contact could be avoided.
Now it should be noted that because Wilson was offered an in person hearing, this means that his suspension could be more than five games per the CBA.
When we have more information on Tom Wilson and his hearing we will keep you all updated.
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