Tom Wilson has spent the majority of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament playing on Team Canada’s top line with Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini. The Washington Capitals winger’s inclusion on the first-line trio initially drew questions from analysts and media alike, but Wilson has shown that he can more than hang with the superstars through three games.
The origin of head coach Jon Cooper’s move to play Wilson next to McDavid may have come via a conversation with Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery. Carbery spoke to reporters at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday for the first time since the NHL paused play for the Olympics.
“He didn’t [tell me he’d be playing with McDavid], but we did have some good conversation(s),” Carbery said. “I think that one of the unique things about Willy is he can play with good players and highly-skilled players, and we did talk about that, even dating back to pre when I was here. His ability to play with some of the most talented [players], whether it was Nick Backstrom, so we just had some good conversations about him being able to play that [role].
“I felt like that’s one of his best assets is being able to go retrieve pucks, win puck battles, get it to skilled players, and then also be able to make a really good play off of the wall or in the corner to get it to the middle and not just have to rim it back down or not just shoot it and dead end a puck. He can keep plays alive, and so that’s where I think he becomes really valuable and even more of an asset to be able to play with some of your top skill players.”
Wilson, who called playing with McDavid a “highlight of my career” on Tuesday, is a point-per-game player for Canada at the tournament with three points (1g, 2a). While Capitals fans know how special and unique Wilson is in the NHL, some outsiders may only be discovering his game during these Olympics.
After Wilson dropped the gloves with France’s Pierre Crinon this past weekend, he received worldwide headlines as several of his Canadian compatriots, including Nathan MacKinnon, who Wilson was standing up for, praised just how good a teammate he truly is. Carbery discussed how Wilson’s reputation has spread across the NHL and why his peers love playing with him.
“I think his teammates, the guys he’s playing with right now, it feels like when I listen to their media availability and talk about Tom, they know it,” Carbery said. “The players in the league know it. It’s maybe for the fans that don’t understand or know how much teammates appreciate what he does, whether it’s from a physicality, sticking up for your teammate, how hard he plays, how well he forechecks, creates space, and creates turnovers to give a skilled player another offensive zone puck. Those things fans of other teams may not watch consistently as we do.
“And then players on other teams, they know it. They recognize that stuff. I feel like it’s now being appreciated on a Team Canada level, and hearing players like Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, speak about how valuable that is, it now really perks people’s ears up to how effective Tom Wilson is and how great a player he is.”
Wilson has also been able to do all of the things he typically does for the Capitals in the NHL without really toning his game down for international rules. His fight with Crinon completed an unthinkable Olympic Gordie Howe hat trick, and he used his past years of experience with fisticuffs to know just how far he could take the tussle without risking further suspension.
Still, Carbery, like many others, was initially concerned that Wilson may have jeopardized his standing for the rest of the tournament.
“I was a little nervous, but then I read his quotes of knowing the landscape of the rule, which a lot of us didn’t know,” Carbery said. “Everybody was kind of scrambling to report on what the actual rule is, and I was even trying to keep up reading, ‘Is it an automatic suspension or is it not?’ He sort of knew it depended on the gravity of the situation. As long as it wasn’t completely out of hand, he would be okay.”
Wilson and the rest of Team Canada do not play again until their February 18 quarterfinal matchup against Czechia, which beat Denmark on Tuesday to advance. Carbery and the Capitals will continue practicing for the rest of this week before resuming play against the Philadelphia Flyers on February 25.
