Tom Wilson has spent years building a reputation as one of the NHL’s most polarizing players, but for Rangers fans, the resentment traces back to one night in 2021 that changed a lot more than just the mood at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers were in the middle of a game against the Capitals on May 3, 2021 when Wilson set off a chain reaction. He dragged Pavel Buchnevich to the ice and punched him in the back of the head, then got into a fight with Artemi Panarin after the Rangers winger jumped on his back.
Wilson ripped off Panarin’s helmet, grabbed his hair, and slammed him face-first onto the ice. He later flexed in the penalty box, showing no remorse for what had happened.
Panarin was ruled out for the final three games of the season with a lower body injury from the melee. Wilson, meanwhile, escaped without a suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety, which was led by George Parros.
He was fined $5,000, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. That came months after Wilson had already been suspended seven games for giving then-Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo a concussion.
Rangers owner James Dolan was furious with the league’s response and issued a blistering statement aimed at Parros, calling for him to step down.
"The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely.
Wilson’s dangerous and reckless actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing again this season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL Head of Player Safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role."
The league responded by fining the Rangers $250,000.
Not long after the regular season ended, Dolan fired team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton. While it looked at the time like the move might have been tied to the team’s lack of toughness, the source of the decision was different: Dolan had grown impatient with Davidson’s and Gorton’s plan for building a contender.
That set off the next phase. Chris Drury was promoted from associate general manager to general manager and team president, and the Rangers shifted toward adding more physical players.
Ryan Reaves came in first, and he was the same player who had given Wilson a concussion on an open-ice hit in 2018 while with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Rangers also acquired Sammy Blais and sent Buchnevich to the St.
Louis Blues in the deal. Barclay Goodrow was added on a six-year contract as well.
The results were mixed. Reaves lasted one season in New York before being traded to the Minnesota Wild early in the 2022-23 season.
Blais tore his ACL 14 games into the 2021-22 season after getting slew-footed by then-Devils defenseman P.K. Subban, then was traded back to the Blues in 2023.
Goodrow was waived by Drury in the summer of 2024 and claimed by the San Jose Sharks, who were on his no-trade list. Goodrow later said Drury never approached him about a trade, making him the first player to voice dissatisfaction with how the executive handled things as general manager.
Even so, the Rangers reached the Eastern Conference Finals twice in three years from 2022 through 2024. Still, Wilson’s actions clearly pushed the organization toward a different kind of roster construction, with more emphasis on physicality than skill.
And that’s why the usual Capitals defense - “you would love to have a player like Wilson on your team” - doesn’t land cleanly in New York. His long list of suspensions and fines makes that a hard sell for plenty of Rangers fans.
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