The suspension for Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, which was originally set for 20-games, has been officially reduced to only 14.
Wilson was initially suspended for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, and the scaling back from 20 games to 14 games will save Wilson around $400K in salary, as he will not have to lose 20 games’ worth of pay.
NHL’s Department of Player Safety arbitrator Shyam Das stated the following:
…I find that the League’s decision that Wilson violated Rule 48 was supported by substantial evidence, but that the length of the 20-game suspension imposed was not supported by substantial evidence. As remedy, consistent with my findings, I conclude that Wilson’s suspension should be reduced to 14 games. I have arrived at this length by treating his most recent prior 3 playoff game suspension as the equivalent of 6 regular season games, as [George] Parros did, doubling that based on all relevant circumstances to 12 games–which certainly constitutes more severe punishment consistent with the CBA–and adding 2 games, as Parros did, based on the injury to Sundqvist.
