Pakko oli vielä tämän verran palata, kun pläräsin läpi pressimouhoa.
TheAthletic oli haastatellut muutamaa entistä pelaaja jotka nykyisin eri rooleissa NHL-organisaatioissa. Kaikki yhdessä äänessä sanoivat tuomitsevansa Wilsonin yleisesti, mutta kommentoivat tätä tilannetta ja muuta mm. seuraavin lainauksin;
Longtime player turned NHL executive: “I didn’t think it was as bad as everyone said it was. I guess maybe because I waited to see it, I blew it up in my own mind. And what was in my mind was a lot worse.”
League executive: “Wilson turned around and didn’t really know who it was because Panarin jumped on his fucking back. Like he should have stayed out of it or just sort of grabbed him. Tom Wilson would not have done that to Panarin, I think, if he didn’t jump on his back and there was a whole shitstorm going on. And I’m the last person to defend this guy. I really am.
“To be honest I’m watching it now as we’re talking and I’ll tell you what, it could have been a lot worse. He didn’t even drop his gloves. Yeah, you get caught up in that. Yeah, he fucking threw him down. His helmet came off. Panarin should not have jumped on his fucking back.
“If you don’t want to get involved in that stuff, that’s your decision. But don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Don’t go at Tom Wilson and expect him to treat you with kid gloves because of who you are. He’s not going to, so don’t go in there.”
Former player/executive: “He’s in the middle of a long-term contract and he’s been handsomely rewarded and he’s a commodity that if you ever put him on the market there’d be 30 calls. Now, there’d be 30 calls but 10 of those would say they didn’t call. Because everyone would call and half the league wouldn’t admit they called.”
NHL coach: “You know if you put him up for free agency every team would want him. The Rangers would offer him a boat-full of money to come to New York. … The guys really like him. The guys view him as the big brother. I haven’t heard any of the players ever speak bad of him. Everyone wants these guys that are physical and can score. Those are the kind of guys you want. And Tom Wilson can skate and he’s a good penalty killer. He’s got a lot of attributes, he’s just got this one little thing that sometimes goes awry.”
Former player: “I was going to time how long that entire incident took. You would swear that we had World War V. It’s one of those ‘blink of an eye’ things. And I saw all kinds of bullshit things (on social media).”
Former player: “When players engage, is Panarin allowed to do what he wants with Wilson, then Wilson is allowed to do what he wants with Panarin? There’s that. There’s a huge scrum and Panarin is overly active in it. I love that he got involved for his teammate.”
Lainaukset TheAthleticin jutusta "‘He’s going to hurt someone and the league knows it’: Hockey experts weigh in on the Tom Wilson incident", jonka tekijänä Scott Burnside.
En tiedä saisiko näin pitkiä lainauksia heitellä, mutta tuossa paljon asiaa ja mielestäni sopii tähän keskustelun jatkoksi hyvin. Ja nyt jätän tähän enkä vilkaisekaan ketjuun pariin päivään, ellei joku minua lainauksin ja manauksin kutsu takaisin :)