NHL grants Capitals special status concerning Tom Wilson and roster spots

[Curufinwe]

As a Caps fans who cares... This doesn't help us.

Yes it does. It means the Caps can carry 23 available players instead of 22.

 

[Jarey Curry]

Suspended players usually count against the active roster, limiting the team by one player during their suspension. With this exemption, Wilson won't count against the active roster so Washington won't be down a man during his suspension.

My guess is that this exemption will only be in place until Wilson's appeal is heard, and then he will count against the roster just like any other suspended player.

Whats the reason to suspend him before hearing his side first?

 

[Curufinwe]

Can someone explain to me why this matters? Hershey is a 2 hour drive from DC. How hard would it be to swap out a player back and forth with someone else as needed for whatever reason? As many have already stated, including this guy below, it doesn't free up any cap space. So whoever they replace him with still has to fit within the cap. And big deal if they don't have to ship some other guy (who isn't dressing anyway) 2 hours north.

You know that the Caps don't play all their games in DC, right.

How long does it take to get a guy from Hershey to Vancouver?

 

[Curufinwe]

With all this crying and moaning about Wilson, I absolutely cannot wait until he’s back.

If he hasn't finally learned his lesson, he won't be back on the ice for long.

 

[kladorf2005]

You know that the Caps don't play all their games in DC, right.

How long does it take to get a guy from Hershey to Vancouver?

About the same amount of time it takes to get 22 guys from DC to Vancouver

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

It doesn't make sense to me, it didn't make sense with Torres and it doesn't now. One would think that if a player hurts his team along himself, it would make them think more about the stupid shit they do? "Do I really want to f*** up my team's season with my actions? Do I want to screw up so badly that I can barely look into my teammates eyes anymore?" I guess the NHL does not think like this. I do. And they should fix this.

 

[saintunspecified]

Long suspensions for goonery is a Capitals kind of thing (Dale Hunter, of course). Maybe they need to to be taught a lesson instead of given a pass?

 

[blood gin]

If he hasn't finally learned his lesson, he won't be back on the ice for long.

Radko Gudas is not far behind Wilson

 

[542365]

Wow the Caps are benefiting big time from this suspension. Not only do they get to ice a player who can actually play rather than a plug like Wilson, they get an additional roster spot too. Sick.

 

[North Cole]

Can someone explain to me why this matters? Hershey is a 2 hour drive from DC. How hard would it be to swap out a player back and forth with someone else as needed for whatever reason? As many have already stated, including this guy below, it doesn't free up any cap space. So whoever they replace him with still has to fit within the cap. And big deal if they don't have to ship some other guy (who isn't dressing anyway) 2 hours north.

People need a reason to be mad and if it involves Wilson then they dont have to try as hard as usual. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't have a high opinion of the guy myself but this doesn't seem like a big deal. I guess it guess I could see how it might bug someone if there was a player on their team that got suspended 10 games and didnt get the exemption..but not really. The guys getting suspended for large amounts of games generally aren't paid a lot of money anyways because they're 4th line plugs. So it doesnt make much sense for other fans to be upset about that either...as you said there is no cap savings so they cant be mad about the dollars...

All it equates to for other teams not getting the exemptions is one less guy in the pressbox

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

The idea of the suspension to the player is to punish the player specifically. Suspensions from the league aren't (generally) intended to punish the team that the individual plays for. If it was the leagues intention to punish the team, they would fine the team in conjunction with the fine to the player. So it is unsurprising to see the league take this course of action.

Then why don't they normally take this course of action?

For me this has nothing to do with Wilson. I would've been equally annoyed had I known they did it with Torres. It's an absurd decision.

As someone mentioned earlier, where's the tipping point? How many games does a player have to get suspended before the team gets this exception?

"Hey guys, can you suspend him 15 games instead of 10? I'd really rather not be short a roster spot for 10 games..."

The point is to punish the player, but it should also hurt the team. People get pissed about the miniscule fines or the NHLPA appealing decisions, but this is no big deal?

 

[CupsOverCash]

I guess if they did it before its not so "special" then is it?

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

People need a reason to be mad and if it involves Wilson then they dont have to try as hard as usual. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't have a high opinion of the guy myself but this doesn't seem like a big deal. I guess it guess I could see how it might bug someone if there was a player on their team that got suspended 10 games and didnt get the exemption..but not really. The guys getting suspended for large amounts of games generally aren't paid a lot of money anyways because they're 4th line plugs. So it doesnt make much sense for other fans to be upset about that either...as you said there is no cap savings so they cant be mad about the dollars...

All it equates to for other teams not getting the exemptions is one less guy in the pressbox

I'd argue that most of the guys getting long suspensions these days aren't 4th line plugs.

Wilson, Wideman, Voynov, Torres, Cooke...

 

[Paperbagofglory]

This is not the first time a situation was caused and Tom Wilson was called special. Fond memories of grade school for Tom.

 

[kmart]

thank you gary, wilson wont forget it when he bulldozes his next victim.

 

[stepdad gaary]

i hate wilson and dont like the caps but i dont understand the problem with this. I believe he still counts against the cap and the 50 contract limit. I dont see the problem with allowing the caps 23 players instead of 22.

firstly because i dont believe having that roster player really has much of an impact or lessens the blow of the suspension and secondly, as a socialist i believe someone else should be allowed that job now that he doesnt have it.

 

[BigEezyE22]

I guess if they did it before its not so "special" then is it?

Apparently they've done it 1 time, so it's still pretty special.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Apparently they've done it 1 time, so it's still pretty special.

Ok a little bit more special than before.

 

[Oilpeg]

Didn't Nate Schmidt get 20-games too? Or did that get appealed back to a lower number? Is Vegas now going to apply for this distinction?

 

[Curufinwe]

Radko Gudas is not far behind Wilson

You can easily check what Gudas has done since his 10 game suspension. That's how Wilson is going to have to play when he comes back.

 

[redcard]

They sure as hell punished the Kings for what Voynov did. Kings had to play with 5 defenseman for many games.
I agree with your logic but the NHL didn't do this against the Kings.
Absolutely pathetic, **** the NHL.

You forgot how the Kings were penalized for Voynov and an off ice incident.
Total garbage by the NHL. Once again proving to be a clown show league.

I think the important thing that people are missing is this isn't just granted by the NHL, the team has to make the request.
So if the Kings didn't do so during the Voynov thing, that's their own fault.
I have no problem with this. Why should the other 22 players risk more fatigue and increased risk of injury because someone's suspended 20 games?

Kings get salary cap relief from NHL while Voynov suspension continues - Los Angeles Times

 

[LT]

Sure wasn't done with Voynov.

Voynov's case is muddied heavily by him being deported and there being legal action taken against him. Not really comparable at all to a normal suspension.

 

[God King Fudge]

I understand the reasoning here. A team can manage for a 2 or 3 game suspension, but when you get to making them run a player short for a quarter of the year, that's a bit much to ask.

However I think the league should come up with a number, and say, ok anything over this number of games the team is eligible to non roster the players during the suspension. With the caveat that they have to roster the player for that minimum number of games first before they are able to switch them to non roster. So lets say the league determined that number was 10 games. Anything over 10 games makes them eligible for non roster. Then here Washington has to keep Wilson on their roster for 10 games, and then can non roster him.

The fact that the entirety of the suspension is non roster means a player who gets suspended 2 games has their team run with 22 players for longer than the team who has a guy who got suspended 10 times as long sounds silly to me.

I think this is a really good idea.

 

[LamorielloAndSon]

Suspensions are punishment for the team too,I don’t like this

 

[Sam Spade]

Didn't Nate Schmidt get 20-games too? Or did that get appealed back to a lower number? Is Vegas now going to apply for this distinction?

Vegas and the Preds both currently have 23 man rosters so I guess they did.