Capitals’ Wilson not suspended for hit against Rangers

Washington’s Tom Wilson was fined but not suspended for his actions during a post-whistle scrum in New York, an outcome the Capitals are ready to move on from and the Rangers feel isn’t sufficient punishment for one of hockey’s most polarizing players.

The NHL fined Wilson $5,000 Tuesday for roughing Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich during the second period of a game Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

The fine is the maximum allowable for the incident under the collective bargaining agreement, and Wilson was not disciplined for throwing Artemi Panarin to the ice moments later.

New York’s Ryan Strome called it a “joke” and said he thought “the league missed one here big time.” The team’s statement was even stronger, calling Wilson’s behavior a “horrifying act of violence” and targeting NHL senior vice president of player safety George Parros for his inaction.

“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,” the Rangers said.

“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.”

Wilson was given a double-minor penalty for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. The fine represents 0.12% of Wilson’s $4.1 million salary for this season.

“It’s the discipline that’s sent down from the league, and Tom will pay it and we’ll move on,” said Capitals coach Peter Laviolette, who after the game called it a physical play that “happens a lot.”

This is Wilson’s third fine in eight NHL seasons, and he has been suspended five times. The most recent suspension was seven games in March for boarding Boston’s Brandon Carlo.

When suspending him for the hit on Carlo, the league’s department of player safety called Wilson “a player with a substantial disciplinary record taking advantage of an opponent who is in a defenseless position and doing so with significant force.” The same department found Wilson’s actions against the Rangers not to be worthy of a suspension.

NFL BRONCOS TACKLE TEARS ACHILLES »

A person with knowledge of the injury tells The Associated Press that right tackle Ja’Wuan James sustained a torn Achilles tendon while working out away from the Denver Broncos’ facilities Tuesday. The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said James’ $10 million salary for 2021 is in jeopardy because the injury occurred off-site. The injury is expected to sideline him for the entire 2021 season.