Tom Wilson has been suspended five different times in his NHL career for big hits, but he’s evolved his game in a way you may not expect.
The swift-skating Wilson revealed that he has, at times, begun issuing pre-hit verbal warnings to opposing players so they can prepare for his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame crashing into them.
The revelation came while Wilson spoke to Sportsnet’s Scott Oake after the Washington Capitals lost to the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Saturday. Oake relayed a quote from former NHL enforcer Stu Grimson, who played in the NHL from 1988 through 2002. Nicknamed The Grim Reaper, Grimson posted 2,113 penalty minutes in 729 career games.
“Stu Grimson, a noted pugilist himself, once said of you, ‘Take Tom Wilson and drop him into a game in the late ’80s or early ‘90s, no one would give it a second thought. He would be seen as a good player,'” Oake said. “But he also went on to say, ‘The game has evolved.’ Have you evolved with it?”
Wilson responded, “I think nowadays, a lot of times, I just yell at guys. You know, when I’m going into a hit, and they maybe don’t see me, I just try and give them a heads up because the game has gotten so fast, the game’s changed a little bit, how guys come up playing it now, they’re maybe not expecting to be hit in the same areas of the ice as my first couple years in the league.”
Oake then asked Wilson to confirm that he actually yells “heads up” when he’s closing in on a player.
“I try to now, yeah,” Wilson said. “I mean, obviously, the situation, it kind of depends, but you know, if it’s a guy that’s going to be in a bad spot, I just try to let them know that I’m coming a little bit so they can defend themselves and it keeps those messy hits out of the game.”
Wilson’s nuanced adjustments have helped as he has not drawn the attention of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for a bodycheck since the 2020-21 season despite remaining among the league lead in hits annually. He last faced a suspension for a bodycheck gone wrong on March 6, 2021, after he boarded Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo against the end boards. Wilson was suspended seven games as Carlo, who was hit in the head, had to be briefly hospitalized.
“You know, it’s so fast,” Wilson said of NHL gameplay nowadays. “I’ve never been a guy to try and gone out to try and hurt guys, but I play the game where I want to lay big hits, and I wanna play really hard. Sometimes it’s tenths of a second where things can change, body position can change. I’ve had to study it, I’ve had to adapt a lot, and just stay out of some of the hits.”
Wilson’s four other suspensions for hits occurred between the 2017 and 2018 preseasons during a span of 105 games.
- 2 preseason games: Predatory hit on the Blues’ Robert Thomas (Sept. 22, 2017)
- 4 games: Boarding the Blues’ Sammy Blais (Oct. 1, 2017)
- 3 playoff games: Illegal check to the head of the Penguins’ Zach Aston-Reese (May 1, 2018)
- 20 games, but reduced to 14 upon appeal: Illegal hit to the head of the Blues’ Oskar Sundqvist (Sept. 20, 2018)
“Growing up, I always wanted to play hard,” Wilson said. “I always wanted for the other teams not to like me. I wanted to have that in my game since my first bodycheck in practice when I was seven, eight years old. I just loved that part of the game. I hope my opponents always respect me. I try and play the game honest and as hard as I can. That’s just the way I grew up playing.”
During the interview, Wilson also suggested that young players could keep themselves more safe by being more observant.
“Taking account inventory on who’s on the ice, that used to be something everybody would do when they get on the ice,” Wilson said. “I still do. I look around and see if anyone’s on the ice that has a reputation of laying a big hit.”
