EITM interviews Tom Wilson

EITM interviews Tom Wilson

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
The Washington Capitals will take on theNew York Rangers round one of the Stanley
Cup Playoffs. Please welcome for theWashington Capitols. Please say hi to mister
Tom Wilson. Tom. Hey,what's Elliott? Hey? How you doing?
Dude? Good? Now? Allgood? Hey? Was it stressful

(00:21):
on your end because you guys werekilling me there for a little bit?
Yeah, I mean we were justI mean, you're in the heat of
the moment, You're you're battling along, don't You don't really have time to
stop and think about it. ButI can understand it would be a little
stressful and nerve wracking on friends andfamily, that's for sure. Yeah.

(00:43):
No, like next year, maybegame eighty one instead of eighty two.
So it's not like every moment isgoing Hey. I do want to ask
you this though, Tom, andyou always hear like athletes and guys talk
about like like, hey, it'sthe guys in the locker room and being
in the locker room over the lastcouple of weeks and especially the last couple
of days, what has that lockerroom been like after games? Has it

(01:07):
just been sheer, excitement and funand upbeat and guys just leaning on each
other. Yeah, I mean there'salways there's always sighs and lows. You
got to lean on each other forboth, you know. The last little
while, it's been a really fungroup in there. We got a great
balance of young guys and some veteranguys and it's a close group. I

(01:30):
think you don't see us, youknow, getting to where we're at right
now without that. So that's kindof our foundation, as we know,
we can kind of depend on eachother, we can be there for each
other. And the last the lastcouple of weeks has been a fun ride
and just playing those meaningful and comingtogether as a group, it was great.

(01:53):
Hey, you know what, youknow, it's been really fun over
the last couple of games. Andso like when you start looking at like
eighty two games, I'm sure foryou feels like it goes on forever.
The toll, it takes, thetravel, the hitting, all of it
that gets involved in that. Butlike over the last couple of games,
and you can't play every game fromgame one, like it's a playoff game.

(02:15):
But Tom, when I look athow you guys have played over the
last handful of games, which essentiallywe're playoff games to get into the playoffs.
The way that just the style ofplay has changed, I feel really
really good. And maybe it's bydesign, maybe it's not, you tell
me, but I feel really goodabout how the team looks right now going
into the playoffs. Yeah, we'replaying some of our best hockey for sure,

(02:40):
and you know those were playoff gamesfor us. We needed to win
the last three against three pretty goodteams. And you know, when you're
playing those types of games, itcan be good down the stretch, I
mean years past. Sometimes you're inyou know, two three weeks coups in
the season, you're already end andyou know your mind can wander a little
bit. For us, we've hadto have the title down. We got

(03:01):
to be tried to be focused inand I think there's no need to flip
the switch for us now. We'rewe're in that we were we found that
gear and we're in that mode rightnow. So that could be helpful as
well. And get a few daysrest and break here and be ready for
game one. How many how manyhits did we have over the last three
games? Like if you really focusin on the last three of Tampa,

(03:24):
Boston and Philly, like was itwas it the Boston game where it was
like we had like like like fiftysomething hits in the game, Like you
guys were throwing the body like crazy. Yeah, I mean that's that's that's
what it takes. You know,we had a great buy in, a
lot of block shots, a lotof hits, just that playoff mentality.

(03:46):
You know, different teams, youhave different game plans, and we knew
down the stretch those are big gamesfor us and they were meaningful to us,
and we needed to play like playoff, like like a playoff game,
so that means physicality and speed andsacrifice for your teammate. And you know,
for the most part, we didthat and beat off some some pretty
good teams to get in to getinto the playoffs. And you're right,

(04:10):
like whether it's like like you said, physicality, blocking shots, the other
thing is being really smart. AndI do want to pay you a compliment.
Tom is going back to the Tampagame when Essamont drove Nick Jensen into
the boards. By the way,is there, And I'm not going to
ask you if he's going to beavailable to play, but just from a
health standpoint, like we know thatthat Nick Jensen didn't go to the hospital

(04:32):
and that he was around the facility. Is he doing pretty well just being
around the guys. Yeah, he'sgood. Yeah, thanks for chucking.
He's uh, he's feeling a lotbetter. You know, he's a he's
a great, great dude, andjust as a teammate and a friend,
just to see him around his familyand feeling better is kind of all that

(04:53):
mattered for sure. But going backto that game, so there was the
initial hit and Essamont hits him andhe goes into the boards, and the
officials were I mean, obviously there'sa huge scrum. I feel like the
officials did Essimon a favor and gothim away from you very quickly. You
looked very, very upset. Butyou know what I was happy about was

(05:15):
that knowing Tom. You know,at that point, you can't be in
the box for five minutes, Sowhen when the the I'm not taking a
top six guy and putting him inthe box. And if I'm John Cooper,
I'm like, I'll trade off Esamontfor Wilson any day of the week.
I thought it was smart that afteryou guys came back and you finished
the minute thirteen and went that itwasn't It was Tom Wilson was not going

(05:35):
to drop the gloves and have afight with Esamont. You couldn't be off
the ice for five minutes. Thatwas very smart. Yeah, I mean
we talked a little bit about doingit the right way and how much that
that game meant to us. Sothere's moments where there's times where you have
to go out and you know,get the guy and you know, stand

(05:56):
up for your teammate, which wedid as a group. Sure. Then
there's other times where, you know, there was a couple of hits in
the last few games where you kindof have to just you know, take
a seat for a second, takea breath, and realize the stakes that
are at you know that for ourteam right now, you know, down
the stretch and not having guys gooff for for five minutes, like you

(06:18):
said. And you know, therewas the last game we lost beck Mannstein
for little then Obey Kobell gets highsticked, we're down a couple forwards,
and then there's a big hit orsomething that we don't like and I just
can't go running around and and fightsomeone because then will be short three forwards.
So sometimes you got to have along, long memory and maybe settle

(06:41):
things down the down the road alittle bit. But for now, it's
uh, I mean focus was playoffsand I think I think the team did
a great job. And obviously Doubtterwent out and stood up for for gents
and that that that was. Thatwas great. Great to see you know,
other guys sticking up for each otherand and that just shows you the
strength of our group. By theway, when he got into the box
after that fight, was it decidedLike I didn't realize that like how close

(07:05):
they were, that they were collegeteammates and how close their kids are.
When you guys got in the room. Did he just go it's mine,
I got it. I'm doing thisa little bit? He actually uh he
came up to me on the iceand kind of said like, hey,
I'll take this this shift. Youknow, there's an element of of you

(07:27):
know, whether that that guy's iseven gonna fight me or not. Either's
nowadays you kind of you have achoice, and uh, you know,
a daughter came out tapped me onthe shin pod and and said, you
know, I got this one.I want this one, which is pretty
cool, and I think you couldsee the raw motion from him, and

(07:48):
you know, I said, youknow, go get them and and I
think all the boys were pretty uhpretty proud of of Daughter. And you
know, that's our sport. That'sa sport of hockey. If someone takes
it a cheap hit on one ofour guys, you know, we have
the rights and the rules to goout and kind of settle it afterwards.
So Daughter did a great job,and you know, he moved on and

(08:11):
won the game, and it wasgood. By the way you mentioned him
and and Melenstein and Ave Kubel.That line has been playing fantastic, Like
those three together, like you alwayshear them talk about like line chemistry,
Tom, those three together have beenfantastic. Yeah, they do. They
go out and they you know,they do their their jobs every night.

(08:33):
You know what you're getting. Youknow you're getting hard. You know,
they play the right way, Theywork off each other, They play with
a tremendous amount of speed and powerand Daughter is a really smart signament and
can control those guys really well onhis wings. So they've been a good,
solid, solid line for us allyear. Hey, and then you
know what the other thing, like, obviously the veteran leadership on the team,

(08:56):
whether it's you Ovechkin, Carlson inTJ, whoever it is, the
kids seem like they're fitting in.For as much complaining as there was last
year about like oh my god,let the kids play, Let the kids
play, it really feels like theyfit in so well. McMichael has had
an unbelievable year, Lapierre's doing great. I love watching Iorio play like they

(09:18):
have really done a nice job fittingin with you guys. Yeah, they've
been a lot of fun to havearound, and I think they obviously got
a bunch of experience in the AmericanLeague. They paid their dues, they
won some big games they want tocall their cup, and then they came
up and they were ready to helpthis help this team anyway they could.
And you know, having them aroundthe room, having that use that energy,

(09:43):
it takes you back to a yearkind of twenty years old and playing
in the league and kind of wideeyed. So there's an element of being
fun for the older guys to havethose guys around. They're great kids,
They've got awesome personalities. Definitely alittle bit louder in the dressing room with
those guys around, but there thisis great for them I mean, this

(10:05):
is when you think back to earlyon in your career, when you're a
young guy and your teams in theplayoffs and you're playing meaningful games in the
regular season, and that experience isis priceless. You know you need it
for for your career and that's whereyou want to be. So I'm pumped
that we've had some big games.I'm pumped with the way that they've showed
up and played in these games.And you know, there's only going to

(10:28):
be more meaningful games down the nextcouple of weeks here, so it'll be
it'll be great for them to experiencethat and put that under their put that
under their belt, and then hopefullyafter that, after around when we can
move on and just keep keep chippingaway. So Round one will be against
the Rangers. It starts on Sunday. We know that'll be Game one.
The first two games will be inNew York and don't come home and play
in DC. Tom, is thereany is there any benefit? Is there

(10:54):
any Does it help it all thatthe head coach of the Rangers, Peter
lavia Lett is your former coach.Does that Does that give you a benefit
of at least knowing him or isthat more of a media thing. Uh,
you know, it's it doesn't Idon't think we think too much about
it. Definitely not on a ona personality personal level. I think maybe

(11:16):
there's some things, you know,within the game planning structure that we can
pick up on, you know,having having maybe played parts of it in
the past. So I think it'ssomething we'll talk about. I think we
know we're we're familiar with with someof the ways that he coaches and the
different systems that he uses, sothat that can always help. At the
end of the day, we're gonnahave to go go out there and execute

(11:39):
and be the better hockey team.Hockey is one of those sports where,
yeah, you can play with structurein detail and and know what the other
team's doing, but at the endof the day, you got to put
the puck in the net and winthe game. So we'll we'll use everything
we can and to go in there. And obviously they're the top team in
the league this year, so we'regonna need We're gonna need everything. We're
gonna need every guy, and youknow, we're gonna need to go out

(12:01):
there and just you know, playplayoff set and see see what we can
do. I love the matchup though. I love us going up against them.
I don't know why I say that, but I do. I love
us match it up against the Rangers. Yeah. I think every time you
hear the Rangers, guys in ourroom get excited about that it's been a
rival. I mean that was thefirst year I came in. We played
them in the playoffs and something aboutgoing MSG and I think the guys were

(12:24):
excited. The feeling on the onthe train ride back from Philly, guys
are guys are pumped and you knowwho knows. You know. I'm not
gonna sit here and make any predictions. We're gonna go out there and give
it our best and that's all wecan do. And I uh, you
know, I think if we ifwe play well, and we play like
we've been playing well, we're gonnagive ourselves a chance and that's all you

(12:46):
can ask for and playoff hockey.I'll make a prediction, Madison Square Garden
will continue to hate you during thecourse of this series. Yeah, I
know, I might need to gozero. Derek Curty here on h very
little. It's definitely I've definitely gotmy fair share of introductions from the from

(13:07):
the Ranger faithful over the last coupleof years. So you know what,
it's always passion Uh. You know, some one of the biggest hockey markets
in the world and there they're fansare passionate. That's what makes it fun
going to play there in New Yorkand at MSG. So I'm I'm excited
about it. The rink both youknow, Capital One is second to none

(13:28):
as well, where I just keptsaying to the young guys, I'm I
just wait, it's going to beso fun to play on on home ice
in the playoffs. There's literally nono better feeling out there when you skate
onto that ice. Hey, Idid last thing. Congratulations, I know
you got named as a nominee forthe King Clancy Memorial Trophy. Dude,
that's awesome what you've done for onthe ice obviously and then off the ice

(13:52):
and kind of become that community guy. I'm glad that the and I know
that you just got honored the othernight for for locally, for through the
through the Caps and monumental, butto be recognized by the league. Good
for you, dude. I'm happyfor you. Yeah, I appreciate it.
And obviously, uh we've worked togetheron that that type of stuff for
years and and just try and makea difference and show up for for the

(14:16):
kids in this area and every anybodythat needs it. So it's uh,
I take a tremendous amount of prideand uh you know, basically growing up
in the in the DC area thelast decade and you've been right there by
my side. So right back atyou and let's uh, you know,
let's continue on. It's it's alwayscool to see the impact and stuff that
you can have h when you can, when you give back. Game one

(14:39):
is Sunday, Tom, Best ofluck. I look forward to seeing you
for Games three and four. Butgo up there, kick some ass and
have some fun. Well there yougot, Elliott