Wilson incident is really blowing up.
Rangers have taken the extraordinary step of calling out both the league and the DOPS George Parros in a press release (from The Athletic):
The full statement read: “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.”
This statement despite the fact that the Rangers can (and probably will) be fined a huge amount for public critisim of the league and its officials. Wow.
The problem that the league has is that this incident PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that:
1. There IS a real league policy of minimizing the impact that any disciplinary actions will have on a certain number of League-Favored Teams.
2. #1 is even more true when those discipline actions would impact one of The Favored Teams that is playoff-bound or in the playoffs already.
3. There is no consistency or real policy behind player discipline. Every case is being handled on a one-off basis whereby league officials are getting together in a back room and negotiating the league’s punishment based not on player safety, but on how the actions will impact The Favored Team, the league’s finances, and the direction the league wishes to steer which teams win and lose.
Isn’t it time for Bettman to go? The league has come off the rails and now fans everywhere have Bettman unwittingly confirming what we suspected all the long. He is steering who wins and loses in the NHL by the actions of the NHL front office instead of what happens on the ice.
Wilson needs to get targeted. But everyone knows that.