suspended Crinon<\/a> for the remainder of the tournament for egging on Canadian fans as he left the ice.<\/p>\nCanada? They get to luxuriate in the full Tom Wilson experience. The guy who chased down Crinon is also the guy who opened the scoring with some net-front clean-up work, and the guy who started a warp-speed rush by Celebrini and McDavid, resulting in a goal by the latter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the conversation I had with him the day he left for (orientation camp),\u201d Nichol said. \u201c\u2018We\u2019ve known each other for 16 years. I love your attitude. I love everything about you. I love your humility. But you\u2019re there because you deserve to be there. You\u2019re a hell of a f\u2014ing hockey player. You\u2019re not just there to bang and smash. You can do other stuff.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c(He hasn\u2019t just) opened other people\u2019s eyes. I think he\u2019s opened his own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28246047-scaled-e1771364807184.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Tom Wilson fought France\u2019s Pierre Crinon during the preliminary round. (Geoff Burke \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Sixteen years ago, Nichol (also the creator and founder of BioSteel sports nutrition products) wasn\u2019t accepting new clients, and he certainly wasn\u2019t in the business of taking on minor hockey players. Former NHL goalie Curtis Joseph told Nichol about a \u201cbig, athletic kid\u201d playing for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, though, and piqued his interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew right away he was special \u2014 not necessarily physically, but very mature, very focused,\u201d Nichol said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different level of being polite and respectful and highly, highly, highly coachable.\u201d<\/p>\n
After three years of work with Nichol, and two seasons with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League, Wilson, then 6-foot-3 and more than 200 pounds, was the No. 15 North American skater heading into the 2012 draft. Washington selected him at No. 16. He was in the NHL by the following spring, seeing time in a pair of postseason games against the New York Rangers.<\/p>\n
By fall, he was a regular in the Capitals\u2019 lineup, playing fourth-line minutes with the likes of Jay Beagle and Aaron Volpatti. Wilson\u2019s rookie contract helped Washington navigate the salary cap as they chased the Stanley Cup, and his skill set \u2014 fast enough to track down anyone, physical enough to make them pay, willing enough to fight without provocation \u2014 made him a seamless fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was going to be a physical player. He was gonna be someone that won puck battles, was strong on the walls and went to the net front, up and down your wings,\u201d said Spencer Carbery, Washington\u2019s coach since the 2023-24 season. \u201cAnd yeah, you hope when you pick someone in the first round that they\u2019re gonna blossom into more, but that was all he was really asked to do coming into a really good Washington Capitals lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge, Capitals president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan said, was finding a way to help Wilson hit his top-six potential while also contributing down the lineup as a more traditional bottom-sixer out of necessity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see that pattern all the time, where a physically developed kid comes in, and everybody pushes these guys into the league early, and they don\u2019t develop their offensive game. They don\u2019t go to the AHL and play power play and learn all that stuff,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cHe was that guy, but he learned it on the fly here, which took a number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along the way, Wilson earned a spot on the penalty kill. Later, he got time with the second power-play unit. By 2017-18, he was regularly the third man on a line with Alex Ovechkin, the leading goal scorer in NHL history, and Nicklas Backstrom, one of the best playmakers of his generation.<\/p>\n
McDavid and Celebrini, in other words, aren\u2019t the first ultra-elite talents to find success with Wilson as their linemate. They\u2019re just the most recent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found that I could complement those guys. \u2018I\u2019ll be the guy to go get the puck and get it back to you. I want you to have the puck, Nicky. I don\u2019t want the puck. I want you to have it, and then you\u2019ll give it back when the time\u2019s right,\u2019\u201d Wilson said. \u201cSo I just transitioned to (asking) \u2018How can I help those star players? How can I complement them? How do I get to the point where they are OK, and they want me to play on their line?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cNick and Ovi, the first couple of times, were like, \u2018What\u2019s this guy doing on our line?\u2019 Then you make some good plays and they\u2019re like, \u2018You know what \u2026\u2019 That was a big realization for me, when those top-six guys started feeling a lot more comfortable having me go into the dirty areas, getting them the puck and understanding that I could help their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 2018 postseason, largely playing with Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Wilson produced 15 points in 21 games. The Capitals outscored their opponents 20-11 in his five-on-five minutes, and he scored two goals in the Stanley Cup Final win over the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n
His days of producing like a bottom-sixer were over. The mindset, though, persisted in ways that caused problems for Wilson, the Capitals and other NHL players. He was suspended four separate times from 2017-18, including for three games during the Capitals\u2019 Cup run. Wilson hit Pittsburgh Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese in the head, concussing him and breaking his jaw.<\/p>\n
The NHL doesn\u2019t hand out postseason suspensions lightly. Wilson\u2019s history and Aston-Reese\u2019s injury forced their hand \u2014 and the message, to a significant extent, was received. Wilson has been suspended twice since the Aston-Reese hit: once for boarding in 2021 and once for high-sticking in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always going to have that (reputation). It\u2019s always going to be with him,\u201d Carbery said. \u201dBut if you\u2019ve looked at him over the past few years, I think he\u2019s genuinely learned and become so much better when it comes to making sure he stays inside the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bone-rattling hits are undeniably still part of his game. Those hits can be borderline, as Filip Chytil and Logan Stankoven learned this season.\u00a0Wilson\u2019s approach to delivering them, though, has changed sufficiently enough to stay on the right side of the disciplinary line. Part of that was understanding that he was big enough and fast enough to demolish opponents, whether or not it was his primary intention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up watching \u2018Rock\u2019em Sock\u2019em,\u2019 Don Cherry, finishing hits,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of my game. \u2026 Every shift, I play one way, and I think I had to learn a little bit like, \u2018Hey, that kid in preseason cutting across the middle, it\u2019s maybe not worth making that hit.\u2019 At the end of the day, I was missing too much time and it was hurting our team, and I had to change my mentality in my game a little bit to grow and to add to other parts of my game, which I think ended up benefiting me a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around that time, Wilson switched up the mix in his offseason work with Nichol, focusing less on pure strength. A torn ACL in the spring of 2022 was a roadblock, but it also offered a change in perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some ways, it opened his eyes and opened opportunities to play a different way,\u201d Nichol said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be going 1,000 miles an hour. He has the skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Caps\u2019 elite offensive players aged out, Wilson kept adding to his bag, and kept watching his role grow, by his count, \u201c10 percent\u201d every season. These days, he\u2019s Washington\u2019s emotional talisman and, outside of Ovechkin, its leading locker-room voice. During Ovechkin\u2019s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky\u2019s goals record last season, Wilson was a spokesman of sorts for the roster, speaking at length day after day about his teammate\u2019s greatness, contextualizing each moment even as the attendant circus mushroomed around him.<\/p>\n
That, Wilson said, was a privilege \u2014 something he took on because Ovechkin deserved it, and because the team needed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to create a standard for myself early in my career that I was going to be one of the hardest-working guys. I was gonna do whatever it took to make the NHL, then I was going to do whatever it took to stay in the NHL,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cNow I\u2019m going to do whatever it takes to help the team win every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two years out from the ACL injury, Wilson is more productive than ever, partially due to what Carbery calls a \u201cmasterful\u201d ability to turn information into action. Early in their time together, Carbery told Wilson to be on the lookout for more power-play opportunities from the front of the net. Wilson had typically stayed further back in the slot, in a shooter\u2019s spot favored by former teammate T.J. Oshie.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow all of a sudden, he\u2019s scoring from the Oshie spot, but he\u2019s also adding five, eight, nine goals from the top of the crease, whether it\u2019s a tip or a rebound goal,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cGood luck moving Tom Wilson from the net-front. He\u2019s gonna set up camp there and you\u2019re not moving him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The end result, Capitals teammate Trevor van Riemsdyk said, is a \u201cunicorn\u201d among NHL players.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best teammates you could have and a nightmare to play against,\u201d van Riemsdyk said. \u201cHe can go through you, he can go around you, he can do whatever. He\u2019s turned himself into a high-end player, a point producer, a power-play guy, a penalty killer \u2014 he does it all. I can\u2019t think of another guy like him in the league that does everything he does at such a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
To anyone in the Capitals\u2019 orbit, no part of Wilson\u2019s contribution in Milan qualifies as a surprise. Ahead of the tournament, general manager Chris Patrick, an American, said Wilson \u201cplays the way every Canadian parent would want their kid to play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe plays honest, he plays hard, he plays physical, he plays offensive, he\u2019s a great teammate, he has guys\u2019 backs,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cHe checks every box of \u2018What\u2019s our identity as a national program?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Oshie, also an American and now a broadcaster, said on television Saturday morning that the presence of Wilson, his \u201clittle brother,\u201d might make him root for Canada against the United States.<\/p>\n
Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson, a more conspicuous 4 Nations snub by Team Canada, said he was happier to see Wilson\u2019s name on the Olympic roster than his own.<\/p>\n
Carbery, a Canadian, was already projecting Wilson\u2019s linemates \u2014 one in particular \u2014 weeks before Team Canada\u2019s first practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can play with McDavid if you want him to play on the wing,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cHe can get pucks off the (boards). He can help McDavid get a puck out of the corner and get it up top. And now it gets into 97\u2019s hands, and then 43 (Wilson) goes to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carbery also called back to the Capitals\u2019 first-round victory over the Montreal Canadiens last spring, when a open-ice demolition by Wilson on Canadiens defenseman Alex Carrier \u2014 brutal, borderline, ultimately legal \u2014 quite clearly decided the series<\/a>. The Capitals tied Game 4 as a direct result of the hit, eventually winning 5-2 and taking a 3-1 series lead.<\/p>\n\u201cThat hit, 18,000 people (in Montreal) were like \u2026 what? Goal immediately,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cSeries over.\u201d He snapped his fingers. \u201cJust like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Carbery fantasized about a similar scene playing out in Milan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tensions are high, every puck battle\u2019s important, it\u2019s a one-goal game. And next thing you know, Tom\u2019s in on the forecheck, wins a puck battle, gets it out front \u2014 goal, Canada. You could absolutely see that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some would say it\u2019s why he\u2019s there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Wilson was on the phone and ready to bargain. An ultra-rare combination of skill, skating and frightening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,54125,4,2602,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-462002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-capitals","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-olympics","13":"tag-washington","14":"tag-washington-capitals","15":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116091826850077844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}