I guarantee if Wilson pulled this against any other team's star players there would have been a very harsh suspension. Think Pittsburgh.
No doubt.
If Wilson had done this to Crosby, the sky would literally be on fire at this moment.
Wilson would be looking at no less than a suspension for this years playoffs and likely into next season.
The league is telling everybody what they think of the Rangers organization and it's fan base in very clear terms.
No surprise there. The Rangers org is hated around the league in kind of a white hot intensity is my sense of things.
Gorton and the brain trust's response has to be at least some of the following IMHO:
-Bring in the best possible immediate solution
-Ryan Reeves just for the sake of discussion
-ideally someone who can/will wreck the other teams best players with hard, clean hits in addition to other things if necessary.
-draft accordingly, which I actually think they are doing a pretty good job of. Just do it better. Scour the earth relentlessly. Find the meanest, nastiest SOB's that can also play.
The Rangers simply have to reverse the reputation of being a team of artists that is easy to play against.
No offense to artists. Hemingway was pretty good with his fists. The Rangers are not close to Hemingway.