There was a before and an after the Tom Wilson hit on Alexandre Carrier in Sunday night’s Montreal Canadiens—Washington Capitals game. By obliterating Carrier, Wilson seemed to energize his team, directly resulting in the Caps’ game-tying goal and eventual win.
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The Bell Centre collectively gasped on impact, seeing Carrier be propelled on the ice and hit his head upon landing. The five-foot-11 and 174 pounds blueliner was no match for the six-foot-four and 225 pounds train that hit him. Upon seeing the replay, the Bell Centre was infuriated by the lack of a penalty and the fact that it led to such an important goal.
It would be surprising if the Canadiens didn’t flag the hit to the NHL Department of Player Safety. The league’s rule about checks to the head states:
48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted.-
In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:
(i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not "picked" as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.(ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full-body check unavoidable. (iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
The League also issued a video explanation of the rule, which is worth watching:
Video Rulebook: Illegal Check to Head | NHL.com
The NHL Video Rulebook examines Rule 48 - Illegal Check to the Head
Those arguing it was a legal hit will say that Wilson attempted to hit squarely through Carrier’s body but caught the head nonetheless, while those claiming it was dirty will say that the head was the main point of contact.
For netminder Jakub Dobes, it was an illegal hit:
I felt like it should've been a whistle. It was kind of a scary hit, but I guess the rules don't apply for everyone.-
Whatever happens, though, lines have been drawn in the sand and crossed, and Wilson is, if he wasn’t already, public enemy number one. Much like Zdeno Chara after the Max Pacioretty hit, he will forever be booed in Montreal; this fanbase has an excellent memory.
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