Thursday morning in Denver, Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch spoke with Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist. He told the twenty-four-year-old Swede about Tom Wilson‘s recent interview, where he said he wants to “make amends” for the illegal hit to the head that concussed Sundqvist in the preseason.
Sundqvist would be open to an apology. “If a guy reaches out to you, you think a little bit higher of him,” Sundqvist told Thomas. “Maybe he’ll say it wasn’t meant to hit the head and stuff like that, you can talk it out a little bit.”
Before Sundqvist was back in the lineup in October, he told Thomas that he thought Wilson’s hit was definitely to the head, not the shoulder. In his view, it was an avoidable hit, and he hoped Wilson had learned his lesson.
Speaking to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post, Wilson said the reason he hasn’t reached out yet was because of his suspension and complicated appeal process.
Some have brought this up and it didn’t make it into the story … asked Wilson if he’s reached out to Sundqvist. Was hard to do during appeals process, when emails and everything else were being scrutinized. He said he wants to “make amends” at some point. Couple Caps know him.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 29, 2018
The Capitals have many connections with the Blues, since TJ Oshie, and more recently Dmitrij Jaskin, started their NHL careers in St. Louis.
Wilson also talked about the fact that, while he doesn’t care what the media believes about him, his teammates and other players matter. “But all that I’d have people know is that I have a ton of respect for the players that I play against, and I have a ton of respect for the players I play with,” Wilson said. “And when anyone gets hurt on the ice, you always hope that they’re okay.”
Sundqvist, after missing the first eight games of the season, is doing pretty good on the Blues. He has three goals and one assist in 15 games on the fourth line. He still thinks it would be nice if Wilson apologized.
“If you want to reach out to me, great,” Sundqvist told Thomas. “Even if it’s really light, I don’t care. I’d still think a little bit higher of him if he does that. It shows that he can be the bigger man to actually reach out and talk. It would be nice if he did that.”
Wilson has said that he occasionally has to turn his phone off to avoid the negativity and threats that have been levelled at him and his family. He’ll have to pick it up if he wants to reach out.
“My phone works,” Sundqvist told Jim Thomas.
Headline photo: Jim McIsaac
