Unsatisfied with Gary Bettman’s ruling, Capitals forward Tom Wilson is taking his appeal to a neutral arbitrator.
Sportsnet’s John Shannon was the first to report the news.
Tom Wilson will appeal the appeal.
Source confirms the Caps forward will take his 20 game suspension that Bettman held up to a 3rd party arbitrator.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 26, 2018
In early October, Wilson was suspended 20 games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after landing an illegal check to the head of Oskar Sundqvist during the Caps’ final preseason game of the year. Sundqvist missed the first eight games of the regular season with various head and shoulder injuries.
Wilson appealed the suspension to Gary Bettman and Thursday, the NHL commissioner announced his decision to uphold the 20-game penalty, hoping that the punishment would be a “wake up call” for the six-foot, four-inch hockey player. Wilson and the NHLPA had seven days to decide if they wanted to appeal the decision to a neutral arbitrator. They only needed 24 hours to make their next move.
Shyam Das, who was fired as Major League Baseball’s impartial arbitrator after overturning Ryan Braun’s 2012 50-game suspension for PED’s, is the impartial arbitrator for the NHL and NHLPA. The hearing will be held Wednesday, October 31. Das most recently reduced Austin Watson’s 27-game suspension to 18 for domestic violence.
Das will have to rule if the NHL’s logic behind the number of games the player was suspended for being a repeat offender was both fair and just.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong
