The New York Rangers did something extremely unprecedented in sports history. In a Twitter posting, the Rangers called out the NHL and their Department of Public Safety over the lack of action in the Tom Wilson incident.
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 4, 2021
Also mentioned was the head of player safety, George Parros, as the Rangers all but called on him to resign.
Parros a retired American ice hockey player who played nine seasons in the NHL. Parros was part of the 2007 Stanley Cup-winning Anaheim Ducks. He was primarily an enforcer during his time in the NHL. Parros had joined the league’s Department of Player Safety in September of 2016. The next year, he was promoted to senior vice president of player safety. When he took the job, he was quoted as saying that “What uniquely positions me for the job is that I played the game as physically as anybody and I never once was fined or suspended.”
A person who has access to his Wikipedia page has added the word “clown” to his biography.
The New York Rangers are rightfully upset by the lack of action. On Monday night, Wilson pummeled a defenseless Pavel Buchnevich further into the ice and then “rag-dolling” a helmet-less Artemi Panarin. Between the two incidents, the Rangers clearly felt that was enough for Wilson to be suspended.
Instead, Wilson was hit with a small fine of $5000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for “roughing†Buchnevich.
Earlier in the day, head coach David Quinn also condemned the league’s lack of discipline for Wilson, saying the Rangers as an organization was disappointed and that they believed what transpired “warranted a suspension.â€
Quinn also talked about the team response of the Rangers, Other than talking about holding players accountable, he did not get into specifics about what that meant. He also did not comment about bringing up Hartford “enforcer” Mason Geertsen who is a 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenseman who has 43 penalty minutes in 18 games this season.
“We’ve talked about a lot of different scenarios,†was all Quinn would say publically.