The Washington Capitals were off on Thursday after eliminating the Montreal Canadiens from the first round of the playoffs in Game 5 on Wednesday night. The day away from the rink allowed alternate captain Tom Wilson, one of the first round’s biggest stars, to appear on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show.
Wilson addressed his physicality in the series and over his now 12-season-long NHL career with the Capitals, cracking jokes with McAfee, a noted Pittsburgh Penguins fan. The 31-year-old winger also spoke about getting snubbed by Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off and how badly he wanted to play for his country in the USA-Canada showdown that featured three fights in the first nine seconds.
“As the team got selected and stuff, obviously you’re a little pissed off and you want to be there,” Wilson said. “I was sitting on my couch, and I turned on the game, and as that stuff was all going down, I was sitting there like, ‘Holy, I want to be out there so bad.’ Your blood started boiling a little bit, and it’s an amazing rivalry, and just the game at its greatest.”
After the game, a 3-1 win for the US, many influential hockey voices on social media, including John Buccigross and Paul Bissonnette, championed Wilson as someone that Canada should have had on the ice to better police the rough stuff from the Tkachuk brothers and the rest of the Americans. While Canada went on to beat the US 3-2 in overtime of the final game, Wilson’s potential candidacy for future national teams seemingly still grew.
As Canadiens fans and defenseman Alexandre Carrier are now well aware, Wilson can unleash game-changing physicality on his opposition. The Toronto native is also coming off a career-best year offensively, recording 65 points (33g, 32a) in 81 games for the top-seeded Capitals.
“As a competitor, you want to be out there competing with your country,” Wilson said. “You always want to put that jersey on and go out there best-on-best. If it happens in the future, I’ll be stoked. Obviously, it was great for the game of hockey. Everybody saw what a savage sport it is. Great skill, speed, and toughness on display. It was awesome.”
Wilson has never played for Canada’s senior national team. He has donned his nation’s colors at the junior level, playing in the World U17 Hockey Challenge and Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2011 and the Canada-Russia Challenge in 2012.
The next opportunity for Wilson to dress for his country during an international best-on-best competition will be at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The NHL then plans to host the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028 before also heading to the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.
