ARLINGTON, Va. -- Tom Wilson was easy to pick out among the 10 community leaders honored as Washingtonians of the Year at a luncheon hosted by Washingtonian Magazine on Wednesday.
The Washington Capitals forward had a nasal splint covering his broken nose and some black and yellow bruising below his left eye, the aftermath of a collision during a 4-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
“I think everyone in the room knew who the hockey player was,” Wilson said Friday. “Obviously I wasn’t feeling like a million bucks, but got through it and it was super cool to be there and receive that award.”
Wilson missed the Capitals’ 4-1 loss against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday because of lingering effects from breaking his nose, but practiced wearing a full shield Friday and is hopeful he’ll be able to play when the Capitals host the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN).
“I’ve got to see, obviously (after) the adrenaline of being out in practice and skating around and see how I feel a little bit later today, but I feel pretty good,” he said. “So hopefully I’ll be ready to rock tomorrow.”
Wilson gave a shoutout to Dr. Mike Reilly from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital during his acceptance speech Wednesday for resetting his nose “back to, hopefully, straightish.” The ceremony, during which he was honored for his work in the community, came less than a week after the 29-year-old was selected to represent Washington in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game in his hometown of Toronto on Feb. 3 and days after his wife Taylor revealed on Instagram the couple is expecting their first child this spring.
Throw in the seven-year, $45.5 million contract (beginning in the 2024-25 season) he signed Aug. 4, and it’s been a pretty good six months for Wilson.
“Every day in the NHL is a privilege,” he said. “It’s an amazing job. A lot of hard work goes into it, but you can never take it for granted and you’ve got to ride the highs when they’re coming. It’s been an awesome journey.”
Wilson missed it when he sat out the first 42 games last season recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, an injury that occurred during Game 1 of the 2022 Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers. He was coming off setting NHL career-highs with 24 goals, 28 assists and 52 points in 78 games during the 2021-22 season.
It took Wilson some time last season to get back to playing at his top level (he also missed seven games with an ankle fracture), and he finished with 22 points (13 goals, nine assists) in 33 games. Healthy from the start of this season, Wilson is fourth on the Capitals (19-14-6) with 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 38 games to help them stay in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
But coach Spencer Carbery said the reasons Wilson was selected to play in the All-Star Game for the second time go beyond his offensive production.
“It’s sort of how the awards work in the NHL, and in any league for that matter, is whoever scores the most goals, gets the most points, throws the most touchdowns, they’re getting all the accolades and awards and ‘Willie’ can produce offensively,” Carbery said. “But he also does a lot of other things that those guys that score every night aren’t able to do. I think there’s so much value in that and we see it every day and coaches really appreciate those little things from a leadership standpoint, from a standpoint of playing for his teammates, that it’s nice to see players like that get rewarded.”
Being named Washington’s representative in the All-Star Game four days shy of the one-year anniversary of his return from his knee surgery (against the Columbus Blue Jackets last Jan. 8) gave the honor added significance.
“When I was rehabbing my knee, all I wanted to do was get back and prove to myself that I could get to kind of where I was,” Wilson said. “The first goal comes and you start feeling better and you circle back kind of a year post-op and look at the last season, obviously, I’ve been lucky to kind of find my game again and get back to feeling a lot better.”
Capitals forward T.J. Oshie joked that, “Not many people can come back from ACL surgery and somehow get faster.”
The No. 16 pick in the 2012 NHL Draft, Wilson began his career with the Capitals as a fourth-line player and worked his way up to playing on the top line by the time they won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Now in his 11th NHL season, Wilson has 314 points (139 goals, 175 assists) in 718 games and 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in 83 playoff games, including 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 21 games during the Cup run six years ago.
“If you’re not from around here, you only see whatever gets the most likes and posts on social media, and you can tend to see Tom in the wrong light,” Oshie said. “When you’re here and you see what he does day to day, game to game, shift to shift, not only on the ice but in the locker room as a leader and someone who came up in this organization and has done everything the right way as far as coming into the League the hard way and putting his body on the line, to finding his skill and his scoring touch, to playing big minutes, penalty kill, power play, and now getting that recognition 11 years later to go to the All-Star Game is great to see.”
Wilson also represented the Capitals at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas as a late replacement after forward Alex Ovechkin entered NHL COVID-19 protocol. His brothers, Pete and Jamie, were able to get last-minute flights to Las Vegas to see him play, but he expects to have a much larger contingent of friends and family in attendance with the festivities in Toronto, including his parents and his 95-year-old “grampie” Jake Avery.
“Family is excited,” he said. “We’ll have to manage the ticket protocol. I don’t know what they’re going for, but it will be good.”
And Wilson’s family is going to get bigger in a few months, with Taylor expecting a baby boy.
“Taylor is a champ,” he said. “It’s been super exciting. We’re about halfway through it right now, so it put things into perspective away from the rink. Super proud of Taylor and super proud to be a dad, hopefully, towards the end of the season. It will change some things, so I’m excited for when that day comes.”
