came in 2024<\/a> for a high stick, not a hit. His most recent fight came during a preseason Gordie Howe Hat trick on September 30, but he held back when Bruins forward Mark Kastelic tried to drop the gloves on Opening Night.<\/p>\nTo Wilson, the tradeoff wasn\u2019t worth it if it would send both him and Kastelic to the box \u2014 he was far more valuable to the Capitals on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know \u2014 I feel like at this point in my career, I don\u2019t need to take that fight,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a guy on the other side that\u2019s playing minimal minutes. I feel like I\u2019ve kind of turned the momentum a little bit already and don\u2019t need to fight to add on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s physical reputation makes him a prime target for players looking to drop the gloves, many of whom have watched his fights over the years. If it\u2019s not beneficial for him, however, Wilson has no qualms about turning them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody \u2014 I mean, there\u2019s a code, kind of, within the game.\u201d he explained. \u201cSome of the guys bother me, some of the guys don\u2019t. Some of the guys do it for show, some of the guys do it for other reasons. There\u2019s a lot that goes into it. At the end of the day, most of the time it\u2019s on my terms. I get to decide. Depending on the game, depending on the situation, what happens, defending a teammate, there\u2019s so much that goes into it. So I\u2019ve tried to grow up a little bit and mature and know when the right time to do it and when aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
A period after brushing off Kastelic, Wilson would score the Capitals\u2019 lone goal against Boston, though it wasn\u2019t enough to swing the 3-1 loss.<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s decision to decline Kastelic\u2019s invitation doesn\u2019t mean his physicality wasn\u2019t a factor in the game. Kastelic\u2019s invitation had stemmed from a big hit Wilson laid on Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei, and he threw another one later in the period.<\/p>\n
Another lesson Wilson\u2019s picked up over his decade-plus in the league has seen him warn opposing players before some particularly heavy hits, a tactic he learned after controversial plays earlier in his career. He noted, however, that some of his checks still come as a surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends. There\u2019s certain areas of the ice that warrant it more than others,\u201d Wilson said Friday. \u201cJust if a guy\u2019s unsuspecting or something, I find it kind of keeps me out of trouble sometimes. But sometimes you don\u2019t get a warning. Sometimes you get a warning and you do what you want with it, and then the next shift you get a real hit if you don\u2019t listen to the warning.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s all part of the game. I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s out there trying to hurt anyone. You just want to play as hard as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those moments of physicality remain a major feature of Wilson\u2019s game, and one that\u2019s proven a boon for Washington. Last spring, several of Wilson\u2019s teammates named his hit on Alexandre Carrier as the turning point<\/a> of the Capitals first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\nAs Wilson grows into one of the Capitals\u2019 strongest players, he has no plans to retire the grittier aspects of his play, but he\u2019s learned be choosy, saving it for the moments he needs it the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can kind of feel when the game may need it,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI always play hard, I always play physical, but those big momentum-changing hits, sometimes you just need to go out and make some noise if the team\u2019s kind of low on energy or they\u2019ve taken the momentum in the game. So it\u2019s kind of a feel thing. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done my whole career, so it\u2019ll always be a big part of my game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, VA \u2014 Tom Wilson spent the early days of his career better known for what he could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-219601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}