Tom Wilson suspended 20 games

The NHL has dropped the hammer on Tom Wilson.

The Capitals’ forward has been suspended 20 games for a blindside hit to the head of St. Louis Blues centre Oskar Sundqvist during a preseason game on Sunday.

Wilson’s suspension will cost him $1,260,162.60. His salary this season is only $1,100,000.

Wilson was offered an in-person hearing by NHL’s Department of Player Safety for the infraction. He was ejected and assessed a 10-minute penalty on the play.

Wilson signed a six-year, $31 million contract extension with the Capitals this offseason and has a history of dishing out dangerous hits.

The power forward was recently suspended for three games during the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs for a check to the head of Penguins’ centre Zach Aston-Reese that broke his jaw and caused a concussion.

In last year’s preseason, Wilson had two incidents against the Blues that led to supplementary discipline. The first was a hit on Robert Thomas that resulted in a two-game suspension.

Wilson returned to the lineup two games later for another matchup with the Blues and boarded Sam Blais, resulting in a major penalty and a game misconduct. He was issued a four-game suspension for the first four regular season games and lost $97,560.96 in the process.

Prior to the 2017 preseason, Wilson had numerous questionable hits, but was only fined once and did not serve any suspensions.