Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been suspended for two preseason games stemming from his hit on St. Louis Blues rookie Robert Thomas, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced on Saturday.
According to the league, Wilson checked Thomas 'well past' where Thomas was eligible to be hit deeming it to be interference. Wilson had to answer to Thomas' teammate Dmitrij Jaskin on the ice as a result.
The 23-year-old has racked up a total of 619 penalty minutes in his four-year career, including 133 last season. While he has built a reputation of being one of the NHL's most physical players, this marks the first time that Wilson has received a suspension from the NHL.
With the newly hired George Parros at the helm of the Department of Player Safety, it's no secret that the NHL has become less lenient when it comes to player safety.
"I've always thought that they could have been a bit harsher on certain plays that I felt where clearly someone intended to do something that was away from the play, had nothing to do with the game and no benefit other than to disable or hurt a person," Parros told NHL.com earlier this month. "Just trying to go a little bit harder on those, because I felt it's been soft in some instances."
The Capitals have four games remaining on their preseason schedule, including Saturday's game against Carolina. Wilson and the Capitals finish the preseason against the Blues on Oct. 1.