The sport of hockey has improved in many ways over the past 15 or so years. It is still a physical sport with lots of contact but has been altered to protect players and to minimize head injuries. The biggest change I see in today’s game is the lack of fighting. Growing up I loved it. It was something I looked forward to when it happened. Seeing two guys go after one another to send a message or to raise the energy on their team bench and then head to the penalty box all bloodied and battered had me glued to the screen. Even now, when I see a fight I get excited. However, I understand that as time goes on you realize how little of a need there is for it. Body checks are fine and so long as you’re not targeting someone’s head or scrunching their face into the boards from behind I have no issues. But fighting is no longer needed and you see it within the game today. Rarely do you watch hockey and see gloves dropped. It simply is not what it used to be and I completely agree with it.

Why am I bringing this up?

Because it baffles me that the NHL can realize how fighting – something that has been a staple of the sport since its inception – has lost its place and is not as popular as it was 15 years ago yet continue to allow players like Tom Wilson to skate around their rinks with reckless abandon and hurt players around the league.

This is not his first time. He knows what he’s doing and anytime he tries to play victim it’s all part of an act. Let’s look at the previous times he has been suspended and why:

Sept. 22. 2017: Two preseason games for a hit on Blues forward Robert Thomas. Up until this point, Wilson avoided discipline, such as a hit on Brayden Schenn in 2013 (2021, NBC Sports).

Oct. 1, 2017: The NHL suspended Tom Wilson for four games for boarding Sammy Blais, also of the Blues (2021, NBC Sports).

May 1, 2018: Three playoff games for an illegal check to the head of Zach Aston-Reese of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2021, NBC Sports).

Sept. 20, 2018: Tom Wilson was initially suspended 20 games for an illegal hit to the head of Oskar Sundqvist, also of the Blues. Eventually, Wilson was able to reduce that suspension to 14 games via an appeal (2021, NBC Sports).

March 6, 2021: Earlier this season, the NHL suspended Wilson seven games for a hit on Brandon Carlo of the Bruins. In that case, Wilson decided not to appeal the suspension. (2021, NBC Sports)

Lets make it clear: Tom Wilson is a repeat offender. Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers is now out for the rest of the season because of Wilson’s stupidity yet all Wilson got was a $5000 fine. What a joke. Wilson isn’t the first repeat offender of this nature and he wont be the last. Sean Avery and Matt Cooke are good examples of this. However what kind of message are you sending when you allow someone like this to get off free with the history that he has? It doesn’t make any sense and the NHL needs to be held accountable for it.

I have no issues with hits. I have no issues with violence in sport so long as its part of the game. If Tom Wilson were to hit Panarin along the boards battling for the puck behind the net and Panarin hurts his shoulder, that’s fair game. Wilson would be making a play on the puck, therefore a hockey play and therefore a fair outcome. But if you punch a guy while he’s down after a play for literally no reason and then decide to body slam another guy and provide blows to the head well then sorry but you’re a horrible person and I’m only saying that because what I really want to say I’d rather not get into.

People love to say that sports are ” soft ” now and ” aren’t what they used to be ” along with many other things.

Yeah. It’s called evolving and adapting. It’s called life.

People who think this way are idiots. They think that because 50 years ago it was legal to smash your stick across a guys neck that it should still be allowed today. Sports, along with everything else, changes as time goes on and adapts to the culture and surroundings it is paired with. We have the scientific evidence to prove outcomes of concussions and how to prevent them. No one is saying that the game should be contactless, what they are saying is that injuring people for no apparent reason doesn’t quite fit the mold of our society today, even though Gordie Howe used to throw his elbows into someone’s back on a nightly basis.

And that’s fine. For that time period. But we are in the 2020’s and it needs to be changed once and for all. We can’t keep watching people like Tom Wilson get away with what would be charged as assault in any other setting.

The NHL won’t do it and I’m merely venting but Tom Wilson need to be exiled by the league. I’m not sure what the NHL is waiting for because we all know this won’t be the last time he does something stupid. All i know is if the NHL continues to operate like this and player injuries continue to be serious then the blood will be on their hands with legal action coming their way.

A $5000 fine won’t be enough for that.