{"id":475066,"date":"2026-02-18T03:25:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475066\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:25:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:25:06","slug":"jon-cooper-leaned-on-spencer-carbery-when-deciding-tom-wilsons-role-for-team-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475066\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Cooper leaned on Spencer Carbery when deciding Tom Wilson\u2019s role for Team Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Wilson<\/a> has spent the majority of the men\u2019s Olympic hockey tournament playing on Team Canada\u2019s top line with Connor McDavid<\/a> and Macklin Celebrini<\/a>. The Washington Capitals winger\u2019s inclusion on the first-line trio initially drew questions from analysts and media alike<\/a>, but Wilson has shown that he can more than hang with the superstars through three games.<\/p>\n

The origin of head coach Jon Cooper\u2019s move to play Wilson next to McDavid may have come via a conversation with Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery. Carbery spoke to reporters at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday<\/a> for the first time since the NHL paused play for the Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t [tell me he\u2019d be playing with McDavid], but we did have some good conversation(s),\u201d Carbery said<\/a>. \u201cI think that one of the unique things about Willy is he can play with good players and highly-skilled players, and we did talk about that, even dating back to pre when I was here. His ability to play with some of the most talented [players], whether it was Nick Backstrom, so we just had some good conversations about him being able to play that [role].<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like that\u2019s one of his best assets is being able to go retrieve pucks, win puck battles, get it to skilled players, and then also be able to make a really good play off of the wall or in the corner to get it to the middle and not just have to rim it back down or not just shoot it and dead end a puck. He can keep plays alive, and so that\u2019s where I think he becomes really valuable and even more of an asset to be able to play with some of your top skill players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson, who called playing with McDavid a \u201chighlight of my career\u201d on Tuesday<\/a>, is a point-per-game player for Canada at the tournament with three points (1g, 2a). While Capitals fans know how special and unique Wilson is in the NHL, some outsiders may only be discovering his game during these Olympics.<\/p>\n

After Wilson dropped the gloves with France\u2019s Pierre Crinon this past weekend, he received worldwide headlines as several of his Canadian compatriots, including Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>, who Wilson was standing up for, praised just how good a teammate he truly is<\/a>. Carbery discussed how Wilson\u2019s reputation has spread across the NHL and why his peers love playing with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his teammates, the guys he\u2019s playing with right now, it feels like when I listen to their media availability and talk about Tom, they know it,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cThe players in the league know it. It\u2019s maybe for the fans that don\u2019t understand or know how much teammates appreciate what he does, whether it\u2019s from a physicality, sticking up for your teammate, how hard he plays, how well he forechecks, creates space, and creates turnovers to give a skilled player another offensive zone puck. Those things fans of other teams may not watch consistently as we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then players on other teams, they know it. They recognize that stuff. I feel like it\u2019s now being appreciated on a Team Canada level, and hearing players like Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>,\u00a0Connor McDavid<\/a>, speak about how valuable that is, it now really perks people\u2019s ears up to how effective\u00a0Tom Wilson<\/a> is and how great a player he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson has also been able to do all of the things he typically does for the Capitals in the NHL without really toning his game down for international rules. His fight with Crinon completed an unthinkable Olympic Gordie Howe hat trick, and he used his past years of experience with fisticuffs to know just how far he could take the tussle without risking further suspension.<\/p>\n

Still, Carbery, like many others, was initially concerned that Wilson may have jeopardized his standing for the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little nervous, but then I read his quotes of knowing the landscape of the rule, which a lot of us didn\u2019t know,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cEverybody was kind of scrambling to report on what the actual rule is, and I was even trying to keep up reading, \u2018Is it an automatic suspension or is it not?\u2019 He sort of knew it depended on the gravity of the situation. As long as it wasn\u2019t completely out of hand, he would be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson and the rest of Team Canada do not play again until their February 18 quarterfinal matchup against Czechia, which beat Denmark on Tuesday to advance<\/a>. Carbery and the Capitals will continue practicing for the rest of this week before resuming play against the Philadelphia Flyers on February 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Wilson has spent the majority of the men\u2019s Olympic hockey tournament playing on Team Canada\u2019s top line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-475066","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\/475066","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=475066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}