Former official Paul Stewart sounds off on the NHL for ONLY fining Capitals Tom Wilson after injuring Rangers star, Artemi Panarin
Anthony Scultore
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Paul Stewart was one of the NHL’s best referees. The former undrafted player officiated over 1000 games in the regular season and 49 playoff games. He was also a ref during two of the most high profile international tournaments in the history hockey, the Canada Cup (1987 and 1991). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
These days, Paul is one of the more opinionated voices and critics in the game. He blogs from time to time at HockeyBuzz.com and his own website YaWannaGo.com. Today on social media he unleashed his thoughts on the NHL’s decision to fine Tom Wilson the max $5000 allowed per the CBA.
Apparently he had seen enough of Wilson sucker punch of Pavel Buchnevich and body slam of Artemi Panarin.
Paul Stewart sounds off on the NHL over Tom Wilson
In a series of tweets right after the announcement from the Department of Player Safety on the fine, Paul Stewart went off.
“Tom Wilson (again) showed himself to be a fraudulent “tough guy” by opportunistically going after skill/finesse players. He wouldn’t have pulled that crap if he had to directly answer for it to a Probert, O’Reilly, Dave Brown, Fotiu, Odjick, Grimson, Twist, Chase, etc.,” Stewart began. “DOPS is spineless but they are driven play/offense outcomes first and foremost. The scrum itself wasn’t too out of the ordinary but it was Wilson’s choice of targets and general punkishness that’s the issue.”
In his final tweet, Stewart made a scathing accusation as to why the NHL DOPS is a mess. “Also, blaming George Parros for DOPS’ flaws is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the food quality at McDonald’s.” he explained. “He’s a figurehead symbol. For those who don’t know: In the NHL, the officiating department and DOPS are under the thumb of the director of hockey ops.”
A direct shot a Colin Campbell. As of this writing, the league has offered no rebuttal.
