On Monday, Tom Wilson donned the A and suited up against the Chicago Blackhawks with a roster made up mostly of Capitals rookies. Here’s one of the reasons why: he refuses to play against the St. Louis Blues in the preseason. The Capitals will face the Blues twice in the preseason this year, leaving Wilson eligible to play in just four games.
With the Capitals taking on the Blues on Wednesday, Andy Strickland, the Blues Rinkside Reporter for Fox Sports Midwest, reiterated Wilson’s comments to him from the 2018-19 season.
Tom Wilson told me early last season he will no longer play in any pre-season games moving forward against the #stlblues. #Caps https://t.co/Z54nYwKTIn
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) September 17, 2019
Wilson has received three suspensions in Blues preseason games. The first came during the 2017-18 season, when Wilson was suspended two games for a September 22 hit on Robert Thomas.
The second occurred just eight days later, when a bad hit on Samuel Blais resulted in a major penalty, game misconduct, and a four game suspension, which saw Wilson miss the start of the 2017-18 regular season.
Wilson’s third suspension came a year later, courtesy of a high head hit on Oskar Sundqvist. This was Wilson’s longest suspension yet, originally for 20 games, but later reduced to 14.
With the roster already released for Wednesday’s matchup against the Blues, it would appear that Wilson’s words are holding true. He will not be suiting up for that preseason game, with Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Jakub Vrana, Lars Eller, Carl Hagelin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, Dmitry Orlov, and John Carlson instead being the Capitals from the 2018-19 roster making their preseason appearance.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong
