The Rangers take a stand as a rematch looms

The New York Rangers will be without Artemi Panarin out for the season due to injuries he suffered when he was assaulted by Tom Wilson.  The NHL has decided that a $5,000 fine and no suspension is fitting punishment for a player who lost control and assaulted any player who tried to restrain him.

The New York Rangers organization upped the ante late Tuesday with a Tweet that called out the NHL and George Parros of the Department of Player Safety.

Reading the carefully worded statement, the Rangers were clearly trying to send a message to the NHL.

“The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely. Wilson’s dangerous and reckless actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing again this season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL Head of Player Safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role.”

Where this statement departs from others of the kind is the condemnation of George Parros and the call for him to be removed from the position. Those are pretty harsh words and it’s rare for an organization to be so vocal in its criticism of the NHL operations.

Gary Bettman and the NHL must be thrilled that NBC decided to air this game on national television.  The potential for embarrassment to the league is immense depending on how the Rangers decided to retaliate.

Coach David Quinn spoke to the media and indicated that the team is prepared to respond. He said “There’s different ways to do it. The way we’re built, it’s not going to be a brawling situation for sure, but that being said, we can play hard and protect each other and that’s what we have to do.”

Calling up tough guy Mason Geertsen from Hartford is certainly an option and Quinn said that they have discussed that option among others. “I know how we’re gonna respond, I’m comfortable with how we’re gonna respond.  As far as a call up goes, we’ve talked about a lot of different scenarios.”

There has been no response from the NHL regarding Parros.

Washington’s response

Last night,  Caps coach Peter Laviolette was oblivious to what happened saying, “I thought it was just a scrum, physical play.  It started with jamming at the goalie and we had a bunch of guys jump in there. It happens a lot. ”

Today, Laviolette reacted to the fine levied against Wilson. “It’s the discipline sent down from the league.  Tom will pay it and we’ll move on.”

He then said that he has spoken to Wilson. “When things happen on the bench you don’t get to see it live or take a good look at it.  I saw the beginning of the incident where he got fined. It looked like they were jamming at the goalie and Tom punched him in the top of the shoulder area and ten punched him somewhere on the back side, as he’s trying to get in there and pull him off and received a roughing penalty”

He continued with more justification for Wilson’s actions. “After that he had a couple guys jump on his back and there was a big scrum and ensued from there.  I think the message to Tom was he’s big, he’s strong and when he gets in the scrums and he wrestles, you gotta be careful cause there’s…just with the attention on him he gets look at a certain way and so, he’s gotta play his game, he has to be hard to play against, he has to be physical, but in the same sense he’s got to know that eyes are on him.”

So, the message from he Capitals’ coach is that Wison needs to be careful because people are watching, not a word about his total loss of control except to say that he needs to be more careful because of how big and strong he is.

The whole “jumped on his back” justification argument has been echoed a lot on the internet.  Watch the whole play again.  Strome  grabbed Wilson from behind because he was punching Buchnevich who was down.  Panarin grabbed Wilson from behind because Nic Dowd was holding Strome down and Wilson was punching him.

There’s a difference between jumping someone from behind with an intent to injure versus jumping someone from behind to pull him away from a mismatch.   And to call is “jumping” is a misnomer.

The Capitals also had nothing to say about an offensive Tweet that they sent out extolling Wilson’s tough guy act that they later deleted.

Others weigh in

Ryan Strome had this to say about Wilson. “I think it’s a joke, to be honest with you. I think Tom Wilson is an effective hockey player… but I just think that he crossed the line. I think it sends a bad message in my opinion. I think everyone pretty much agrees with that.  I just  think the league missed one here big time. It’s just an unfortunate incident that had nothing to do with the play or the game of hockey. I think that’s kind of where the big issue is.”

Former Ranger and NHL player John Scott posted this and it is worth watching, coming from a former player who admires Wilson.

Devin Setoguchi posted as well.

Matt Cooke was one of the most reviled players in the NHL.  His elbow to the head of Ryan McDonagh is remembered by all Ranger fans and he ended Marc Savard’s career with a savage head shot.  Here’s what he told The Athletic (subscription required) about Wilson.

“(Wilson) looked like a toddler having a fit with this last one. To me, what he did has nothing to do with hockey. This becomes about respect for your opponents and the ability to control emotions within a scenario. This last instance sheds a negative light on Tom Wilson that actually has nothing to do with the game. And I think that’s what a lot of people have the biggest problem with about this last one.

You know, he’s been given a bit of leeway just because, you know, when hits happen within a game, they’re gonna go wrong. They just are. The game is played way too fast for them not to, right?

But this one — there’s a whistle for an altercation and he continued to get in the altercation even after guys jumped in, and he continued to go after the next guy. To me, this isn’t looking a guy in the face and standing up for yourself. This is somewhat predatory.”

What’s next

The most reprehensible aspect of the action taken by the NHL is that they looked at the incident without taking into account the fact of what caused it.  The fact is that Tom Wilson lost control and the NHL had nothing to say about a player who was incapable of taking control of his emotions and could have killed someone.

How will the Rangers react?  If they call up Mason Geertsen it will send a message to the Capitals, but bringing up a player to pick a fight with Wilson could be a big mistake.  They could hit Wilson as often as possible as Colin Blackwell did in the third period.   They could also do something symbolically on a nationally televised game.  It; becoming must see TV.

NBC will certainly have to address this situation and they will be looking for a reaction from the league.  God knows what that will be.