The New York Rangers have been involved with plenty of drama with Tom Wilson and the Washington Capitals this week, and they just drew some pretty ludicrous penalties from the NHL considering the relative lack of punishment for a repeat offender in Wilson.
First, the Rangers were fined $250,000 for their harshly worded letter aimed at NHL Head of Player Safety George Parros after he decided not to suspend Wilson for his egregious actions earlier in the week. Wilson ended Artemi Panarin's season with his unnecessary roughness and also punched Pavel Buchnevich in the back of the head while he was face down on the ice. Wilson only faced the max $5,000 fine, which drew this response from James Dolan and his Rangers:
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 4, 2021
After all this mess, Wednesday's game between the Rangers and Capitals featured a brawl at the very start of the game and then a number of other fights. Buchnevich was a part of the action again, getting ejected for high-sticking Capitals forward forward Anthony Mantha. Buchnevich was then suspended for a game.
All things considered, it's pretty outrageous that Buchnevich and the Rangers received these punishments while Wilson was only slapped with the $5,000 fine. Again, the fact that Wilson is a repeat offender should have played a role here, and a message should have been sent.
That's not what happened, though, and New York should be upset about this travesty. The Rangers also just recently fired president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton after getting eliminated from the playoffs, so it has been quite the week for the franchise.
New York has now missed the playoffs four seasons in a row. Chris Drury is taking over the front office and will be tasked with fixing the franchise. There's plenty of work to be done.
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