Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson being in trouble with the Department of Player Safety is nothing new. However, after keeping his nose relatively clean in recent years, his latest antics may result in a very lengthy suspension.
On Wednesday night, during the Leafs' 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals, we saw Wilson wind up with his stick and deliver a hard, one-handed slash across the face of Leafs winger Noah Gregor and then immediately grasping at Gregor to apologize for what he had just done, as if it was some sort of horrible accident.
As a result of the incident, Wilson was issued a 4-minute double minor penalty and has since been offered an in-person hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety, meaning that his suspension could exceed 5 games.
As far as Gregor goes, he did play the rest of the game, but the damage done by Wilson with the slash to the face actually broke several of his teeth. Gregor showed off the damage shortly after the play:
Hockey players and missing teeth go together like spaghetti and meatballs, but the tough part about this one is that it wasn't an errant puck striking Gregor in the mouth that caused the damage to his teeth, nor did he have his teeth knocked out during a fight. This was a very blatant whack to the face away from the puck - and Wilson is very likely going to pay dearly for it, as he should.
