Photo credit: Kyle Mace

We’ve learned a lot from 2012 first round pick Tom Wilson in the last year. There was that clutch hat trick for Plymouth in the playoffs, his first professional goal in Hershey when he beat Chris Bourque in a footrace, and a brief appearance in the NHL playoffs with the big club.

We’ve also learned that Wilson’s a surprisingly good skater, that he has a good shot, and he’s precisely as physical as advertised. One other thing we’ve noticed: he’s a bit of a yapper. Last year during development camp, Chris Gordon observed that Wilson chirped his teammates non-stop on the ice. During a Hershey playoff game I attended in May, Wilson stood with Michael Latta at the bench and verbally accosted opponents. Head Coach Mark French admitted after the game that the 19-year-old “likes to get involved in the discussion,” which is a nice way of saying that Wilson talks trash. To anyone.

Even playfully to little kids.

Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s Kyle Mace explains:

Towards the end of the first day of Development Camp, the Red Group’s ice session was concluding and a young boy wearing a Chicago Blackhawks Jonathan Toews t-shirt jersey walked over to the far end of the stands where Capitals prospects were concluding a drill. Tom Wilson spotted the ten-year-old kid in the seats and did not approve of his attire. Wilson said something to a teammate and then made a gesture to the kid. Wilson then pointed to the Capitals logo on his jersey, implying that the Capitals simply were the better team and the kid should be wearing a Caps shirt.

The child had a simple reply: a shake of the head, no.

Wilson’s teammates cracked up.

Here are two of Kyle’s photos from the encounter.

I’ve seen a lot of amazing things over the years at Development Camp, but this might take the cake. Or at least swear at the cake or something.