Brendan Smith

Tom Wilson nearly knocks out Brendan Smith in fight with two big uppercuts

Tom Wilson pummeled Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith in a brutal fight late in the Caps’ blowout loss to the Canes.

In the two teams’ last game, Smith injured Nic Dowd, decked Tom Wilson with a counter hit, and sent Evgeny Kuznetsov hard into the boards.

Smith could be seen on replays yapping at Wilson from the Hurricanes bench, looking to fight the Capitals winger, after the two were separated by officials on a previous shift.

The two dropped the gloves minutes later in the third period. It did not look like a fun time for Big Boy Brendan.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Brendan Smith counter hit makes Tom Wilson bleed his own blood

Tom Wilson is usually the guy who delivers devastating hits. But Friday against the Hurricanes, he got dropped by a perfect Brendan Smith counter hit.

The Hurricanes defenseman, making his grand return this week from a scary injury, caught Wilson with his shoulder as the enforcer went for a huge hit along the boards. Wilson crumpled to the ice in stunning fashion as the PNC Arena crowd roared.

The hit came with 3:15 remaining in the first period.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Former Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith says there’s a lot more info that will come out someday regarding the Tom Wilson incident

Defenseman Brendan Smith, 32, left the New York Rangers over the offseason and signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.

On Friday, Smith was a guest on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio’s Hockey Today and was asked about the Tom Wilson incident from last May.

Wilson’s antics led to a line brawl between the two teams which saw the Capitals enforcer punch Pavel Buchnevich from behind and ragdoll superstar Artemi Panarin to the ice after the All-Star jumped in to defend his teammate. The fireworks led to a bizarre, overly aggressive press release from the Rangers, which saw the team call Wilson’s actions a “horrifying act of violence.” A second line-brawl occurred during the teams’ rematch two nights later where Smith eventually fought Wilson. Weeks later, the Rangers cleaned house, firing virtually everyone in the front office and its coaching staff. New Rangers GM Chris Drury then signed three enforcers over the offseason, including Ryan Reaves. Barclay Goodrow predicted the two teams’ Opening Night game should be “interesting.”

What seems like a vast overreaction is not according to Smith, who explained there are things yet to be revealed that will make the Rangers the protagonists in this story.

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By Ian Oland 2 years ago

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The Capitals and Rangers had six fights and a line brawl to start the game. The teams had 100 PIMs combined in the first period.

In the hours leading up to Wednesday’s rematch between the Capitals and Rangers, the Rangers organization called Tom Wilson’s role in a line brawl on Monday “a horrific act of violence.” Rangers players said Wilson had no respect for the game or its players. And the team said the Department of Player Safety’s George Parros should be fired after choosing to fine, not suspend the Capitals forward. The Rangers essentially painted themselves into a corner, where there had to be retribution in Wednesday’s game.

And retribution there was.

The Rangers and Capitals opened the game with a line brawl. All six forwards on the ice fought. Before the game was five minutes old, the teams dropped the mitts six different times.

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By Ian Oland 2 years ago

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Tom Wilson gets tossed after being big mad at the New York Rangers bench

When New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich scored an empty-net goal with 35 seconds left to give the Rags’ a 5-2 lead, Tom Wilson decided the time was ripe to settle scores.

The Capitals’ enforcer, who has fought 69 career times, first threw punches at Ryan Lindgren, who had tried to knock Alex Ovechkin silly 11 days prior, as Rangers gave each other fist-bumps at the bench to celebrate the goal. Once Wilson was separated by an official, he looked to chat with Brendan Smith, who cross-checked TJ Oshie from behind in the kidneys minutes before. Once those two were pushed away from each other, Wilson passionately skated backward in a half semi-circle to engage Lindgren again.

“Here’s where he’s losing it,” Rangers’ play-by-play man Sam Rosen commented. “This is where Tom Wilson goes across the line. He has to be careful here.”

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By Ian Oland 2 years ago

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Free agent defensemen who could replace Nate Schmidt

With Nate Schmidt heading to Vegas in the expansion draft, the Caps have a hole in their top-four. While the Caps do have a small handful of defensive prospects who will likely see time in DC next season, it’s unlikely any of these guys are ready for a full-time role on a second pairing in the NHL. The Caps could also go the trade route, but if they were unwilling to pay Vegas their asking price to not select Schmidt, it’s unlikely the Caps will be willing to give up the assets required to bring in a top-four defender on the trade market.

That leaves targeting an unrestricted free agent as the most likely option the Caps will take to replace Schmidt. Finding the cap space to do this is going to be tricky, but as things stand now, I think the Caps could have $2-3 million to spend on the UFA market to bring in a defender.

Here’s a look at four pending UFAs who could fall into that price range and be adequate on a second defensive pairing.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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