Dissecting The Ryan Reaves Hit On Tom Wilson And Why The NHL Needs To Figure Their Shit Out
I’ve thought this over a lot and from every angle. Here is what I’ve deducted from this hit:
– It shouldn’t matter that the hit was on Tom Wilson. The league has to call things down the middle, regardless of who is on the receiving end of the hit.
– The hit was late and blindside, which is bad for the sport of hockey no matter who is hitting (even if it’s Tom Wilson) or being hit (even if it’s Tom Wilson).
– The hit was shoulder on shoulder.
– This hit falls squarely on the NHL and their inability to correctly control and discipline the players.
And that’s the biggest point. If you watched last night’s game, it was abundantly clear Reaves was trying to get into Wilson’s kitchen all night and Willy was ignoring him. Reaves took a little run at him in the 1st period, Wilson barely retaliated. Wilson knows, as told by the NHL, that he’s a target for the league. He has to be so, so, so careful. The NHL is working to take his edge out of the game, and last night we saw what happens. Reaves kept beaking Wilson, kept chirping, kept taking little runs at him, and Wilson became basically a fish in a barrel for Reaves. And Reaves took advantage of it. When you allow players to go at Tom but don’t allow Tom to retaliate, it puts him in the worst position. And that’s what we saw last night.
Now, because it was shoulder on shoulder and the concussion came from the impact with the ice, I think I agree with no additional discipline. I was curious if they would review the entire game tape and come to the conclusion that Reaves had intent to injure, but the NHL did not do that. I do think Reaves went out of his way to try and injure, which is clearly not what you want in the game.
At the end of the day, I think Tom Wilson would agree that it’s a physical game and he’s laid some big hits like this one as well. What sucks is he was more concerned with scoring goals and ignoring Reaves than he was about putting him in his place, and this was the result.
Hopefully Wilson was just a little dazed and will be back out there scoring goals again. I’m sure he will be. And Reaves…I don’t think Willy will be ignoring you next game.
Never forget when he did this on your ice: