Washington Capitals: Breaking down controversial Tom Wilson penalty

For the third year in a row, Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson found himself on the wrong end in a preseason finale.

The difference? No suspensions to the delight of Washington Capitals fans. But teams have made it known to target Tom Wilson by either hits or words. Sunday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, a coach took it too far.

Albeit the game was meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But this seemed different. The Hurricanes and Capitals have always been rivals from the days of the Southeast Division but their first-ever playoff meeting took the rivalry to new heights. It looks like no matter if it’s an exhibition game or a game that counts, there will be juices flowing from both sides.

Late in the second period with the Capitals ahead 3-1, a contest that was already heated got even feistier. As play was stopped you can see Wilson looking like he wants to fight the entire Hurricanes team, at least getting into it with the players on the bench. Wilson was ejected from the game with a misconduct as a result.

A look at the video, via Sportsnet, shows Wilson getting into a shouting match with the team, in particular Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, who did once lace up skates for the team he currently leads.

Wilson didn’t name names in his postgame scrum, telling Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):

“I was pretty calm until some words came from their bench and it wasn’t the players so we’ll leave it at that. He’s clearly an emotional guy, but I don’t think, you ask anyone around the league, coaches chirping players is appropriate.”

In the same story, Capitals coach Todd Reirden added his displeasure:

“You don’t get a chance to play anymore when you are a coach so you shouldn’t be talking to someone who is playing and to me, that is off-limits and that is something I have always believed as a player, as a coach. No coaches should be yelling at players on other teams because you have no chance to go out and do anything about it and hockey is a special game and in respect to the battle and the compete and enthusiasm and all the passion that is out there, but it is for the players and when the coaches get involved, to me that is wrong.”

Wilson has seen and been through a lot. As a Capitals fan, I’m not going to bore you with defending how important having a guy like Tom Wilson is for any team. Instead I’ll say that what coach Brind’Amour was an all time low for a coach at the NHL level.

I also didn’t quite understand it. What kind of a problem does Brind’Amour have with Tom Wilson besides having to deal with an physical forward with offensive upside?

It’s no doubt Capitals fans adore him while other team’s fan bases strongly dislike him. Even so, if you got a problem with another team’s player maybe just let your own guys handle it instead of chirping from the bench.

There is a silver lining in this issue that might have been touched on earlier in this piece. The Capitals and Hurricanes rivalry is back and although Washington opens the season in St. Louis, Saturday night’s playoff rematch at Capital One Arena can’t come soon enough.