"Jordin was put into a very difficult situation. Robidas confronted him. All he could see was a player coming at him with his arms up and certainly looking like he is ready to enter into some sort of altercation. That happens with Jordin frequently. When he gets into an altercation there are always players who want to get back at him. In my opinion they both threw punches and Jordin’s landed."

— Predators GM David Poile

"If you feel like you are getting attacked you have to protect yourself. I would stand behind that. You can’t tell me that Toots didn’t feel like he was under attack. Robidas wasn’t coming over there to give him a kiss."

— Predators coach Barry Trotz

"Jordin did what I think everybody would do in that situation," Poile said. "He reacted and threw a punch. You don’t want anybody to get hurt, but the fact he got injured really contributed to the situation.

"I’ve seen this happened many times before. I thought the referees called it correctly. I’m obviously very surprised at the suspension."

"If I go in and try to jump him, that's my fault. But I'm just going in there to let him know, 'Hey, you don't hit Modano like that, and if you want to go, we'll go.' That's all I was doing. I wasn't going to jump him. But then, boom."

— Tootoo's punching bag, Stephane Robidas

I have a lot of respect for Poile and Trotz, both for what they've done with the Nashville franchise and for who they are as long-time hockey men, and, sure, it's to be expected they'll stick up for their player, just as Ted Nolan stuck up for Chris Simon after his indefensible whack to the face of Ryan Hollweg.

Unfortunately, their reaction to the five-game suspension meted out to Jordin Tootoo yesterday is simply utter garbage.

"In my opinion they both threw punches and Jordin’s landed."

Really? And was Robidas's phantom punch throw before or after he was knocked unconscious?

"Robidas wasn’t coming over there to give him a kiss."

No — but I also doubt he was looking knock Tootoo into next season with a full-force gloved punch to the chin.

"You don’t want anybody to get hurt, but the fact he got injured really contributed to the situation."

Honestly, how on earth you can watch that play unfold and be surprised an injury resulted from such a reckless and, frankly, stupid display is beyond me.

Did Robidas approach Tootoo looking for a confrontation? Undoubtedly. But isn't there a world of difference between doing that, in going after an opponent looking to have a legitimate drop-your-gloves-and-let's-go match-up, and what Tootoo did?

Tootoo could have simply met Robidas by dropping his gloves and squaring off, but instead we saw the barbarism unfold the way it did, with the veteran Dallas Stars defenceman dropped unconscious on the ice while his stunned teammates looked on.

That's a joke — and I would have sat Tootoo for 15 games, at a minimum, on principle. His actions could have resulted in far worse than an injury contributing "to the situation" — Robidas, a clean player in his own right, could have been killed by the impact of a roundhouse punch to the face — and I don't have any time for that.

And the NHL shouldn't either.