24-year-old Tom Wilson sure has come a long way in a few years.
At his draft in 2012, he was selected by the Washington Capitals with their first-round pick, going sixteenth overall. But not only was future Top Line Tom Wilson going to a team that was often in the playoff conversation, but he would also get to play with someone he’d been a fan of for a long time: Alex Ovechkin.
After Wilson was called onstage for the ceremonial jersey presentation with then-general manager George McPhee, he went into a green room off-stage to speak with trading card company Upper Deck.
They gave him a pack of hockey cards to open, and the last card in the pack was Alex Ovechkin’s.
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After pulling Shea Weber, Carey Price, and Roberto Luongo, Wilson came across Ovi’s card.
“Ovechkin!” Wilson said. “Wow.”
Wilson held up the card to show the camera.
“There you go,” the interviewer said. “Maybe a new teammate.” Not just a new teammate, but a future linemate.
“I had his jersey growing up,” Wilson said to reporters. “It’s gonna be really cool to meet him.”
In 2014 when Wilson completed the Ice Bucket Challenge to fight ALS, he did so while wearing his pre-red rockin’ Ovechkin jersey.
Top Line Tom Wilson is an Authentic Ovechkin Fan.
Headline photo: Upper Deck
