Tom Wilson: 2020-21 season review

What can be said about Tom Wilson that has not already been said about Joseph Stalin?

By the Numbers

Visualization by HockeyViz

About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:

• Most common teammates during 5-on-5
• Ice time per game, split up by game state
• 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
• 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
• Individual scoring events by the player
• 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts

Fan Happiness Survey

About this visualization: At three times during the season (end of January, end of March, and end of May), RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:

On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?

1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM

The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.

Peter’s Take

Wilson’s an extraordinarily divisive player, simultaneously unfairly persecuted while also somehow repeatedly escaping justice.

And both of those notions are fair — from different perspectives. It’s clear now that the league handed down punishment for the Carlo hit that could not be justified by the rulebook. DoPS could be considered to be on Wilson’s side, but the same can’t really be said of the league’s top brass — or of on-ice officials. Wilson’s ability to generate a ton of power plays has diminished over the last few years.

All of which invites the question of what kind of role Wilson can fill. For now that question is answered simply.

Tom straight-up puts points on the board. At five-on-five he generates primary assists at a solid-but-not-elite level (ranking 24th of 341 forwards). His goal-scoring this season was great too, though it owed a lot to his work down low on the power play, accounting for 4 of his 13 goals.

But everything we hear about Wilson is how he needs to adjust — or more ominously, how he needs to be smarter — and that suggests a change is coming for his play. Can Wilson remain effective if he’s not finishing every check? There’s already some evidence to the contrary (and I bet Japers’ Rink has some thoughts on the matter in their review).

Finally, what will the league do to Wilson next season, what will Wilson do to himself, and what will he do to other players? Whether it’s through dirty hits or just plain powerful hits, he’s got a body count dating back at least to Visnovsky. I could only see that number staying put only through three scenarios: a massive change in the player’s style, a throw-the-book-at-him suspension, or the latter resulting in the former.

Willy on RMNB

Oh god. Here we go.

• Tom Wilson started the season red hot with tons of points in bursts and some fun highlights and bloopers.
• But then he got hurt in the home opener, missing a couple games.
• On his injury: “Obviously, I want to be out there. I want to be battling with the guys, but there’s lots of hockey left this year and we just have to be smart.”
• On his fight the next game he played: “I have to be smarter.”
• On February 25, Wilson put a monster hit on Mark Jankowski. There was some salty language exchanged afterwards.

• Quick interlude for some cheescake.
• On March 25, Wilson put a big hit on Brandon Carlo (you’ll see him again). Carlo had to go to the hospital. Wilson got in two fights after that.

• The Carlo hit earned Wilson an in-person (i.e. video chat) meeting with the Department of Player Safety. For boarding. Which is weird, because it wasn’t boarding.
• The suspension came in: seven games. That was a weird decision, as Ovechkin and Elliotte Friedman noted, but Wilson wisely chose not to appeal.
• The DoPS’ justification for the penalty seemed suspicious to us at the time, and later we learned the league handed down the punishment and then forced DoPS to justify it.
• Brian MacLellan on the punishment: “This category of ‘totality of the circumstances‘ is new. I see where they’re trying to fit – was it a suspendable hit or not a suspendable hit – into that category.”
• Wilson, on his response the suspension:  “I have to continue to adjust. The game is always adapting year to year. At the end of the day, it can’t happen. I can’t be missing seven games. I can’t be missing one game. I have to be in the lineup. As you look around the league, there’s a lot of different stuff going on. There’s some confusion. There’s some [hypocrisy].”
• The Caps’ record while Wilson was out: 7-0.
• Quick interlude for charity: Wilson made a burger with Clyde’s to raise money for DC Central Kitchen.
• Eleven days after retuning to play, Wilson got ejected for getting — as Ian puts it — “big mad” at the Rangers bench.
• In April, Boston forward Sean Kuraly got hurt after tripping into Tom Wilson. Honestly, Wilson did nothing wrong here.
• Quick interlude for puppies: Wilson and partner Taylor Pischke are foster puppy parents.
• Okay. May 5. A lot happened, but the three pertinent things are: Wilson put some gloved punches into Pavel Buchnevich’s head or shoulders. Wilson ragdolled Artemi Panarin after Panarin jumped on Wilson’s back during a brawl. And then, in the penalty box, Wilson looked like this:

• The Rangers went well over the top about it.
• Wilson got fined. And then the Rangers went even farther over the top about it.

preview for the normies pic.twitter.com/MYUkTiOI0J

— RMNB (@russianmachine) May 5, 2021

• Lars Eller, on the reaction to the brawl: “I think it’s being made a big deal because it was Tom”
• And then, on May 5, the Rangers and Caps met again, and it was a total s-show. Wilson left that game with an upper-body injury.
• Wilson, on the brawl: “I would have never thought all this would have blown up.”
• On May 8, Wilson left a Flyers game after a knee-on-knee collision.
• Here’s one last hit, from the loffs on Curtis Lazar:

Your Turn

Can Wilson stay a valuable player without the big hits?

Read more: Japers Rink