Toronto Maple Leafs: Top 5 Wilsons Who Are Not Tom Wilson

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 20: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals is defended by Ryan Pulock #6 of the New York Islanders during the second period in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 20, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 20: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals is defended by Ryan Pulock #6 of the New York Islanders during the second period in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 20, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
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Toronto Maple Leafs
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 4: Jordie Benn #8 of the Vancouver Canucks and Wayne Simmonds #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs .(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently got into a bit of a dustup with the Canucks over the Zach Hyman injury.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Wayne Simmonds took on Alex Edler of the Canucks in response to his kneeing penalty on Hyman, but it was nothing in comparison to what happened last week in New York.

It’s been nearly a week since the infamous Monday night incident that shook the entire sporting world and had people in New York screaming at their television sets. Yes, that Dominic Smith game-ending fly ball that sealed a 6-5 victory for the St. Louis Cardinals sure made those Mets fans mad!

Also, there was a New York Rangers-Washington Capitals game in New York that saw Capitals tough guy Tom Wilson channel his inner Lex Luthor by body-slamming a helmet-less Artemi Panarin (Yokozuna, Artemi is not) to the ice, effectively ending the Ranger  star’s season.

Wilson, with five NHL suspensions already under his belt, isn’t exactly known for his clean play and so his actions against the Rangers, exacerbated by him escaping with only a minor financial ding to the wallet, naturally caused many an uproar in the media and amongst those who frequent the interweb. Oh, and the New York Rangers were also a tad bit steamed.

Wilson phil-lips out but Hold On

But what else can be said that already hasn’t been said? Guys like Carlo Colaiacovo and Matthew Barnaby, via twitter, have pointed to the mass-attention the Wilson incident has garnered, arguing that fans love it and that any team would pay to the gills to have Wilson play for them.

Sean Avery (as per his ‘No Gruffs Given’ podcast) thinks that teams should basically maim opposing star players, thus ending further WWE ladder-match, Tom Wilson-esque antics. And Ilya Mikheyev believes that a hockey net is not to be scored into, but only to exist so that a player can shoot perpetually into a goaltender’s pads.

So instead of spending anymore time pontificating about suspensions, fines, retribution and Mikheyev’s complete inability to propel a rubber disc into a large, unobstructed measure of space, let’s take a look at the less controversial Wilsons of the world: