TORONTO -

Former NHL referee Kerry Fraser says anger the Winnipeg Jets and their fans are feeling over the different way the league handled two recent head shots is absolutely justified.

Fraser had no issue with the NHL Department of Player Safety giving Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba a two-game suspension for his hit on Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone on Sunday.

However, the veteran of 2,100 NHL regular season and playoff games believes Pittsburgh Penguins centre Evgeni Malkin should have been given a game misconduct and a suspension for his high hit on Jets captain Blake Wheeler last Thursday.

“To me, the question is why was Evgeni Malkin’s hit not treated the same way,” Fraser said. “It was on an ineligible player to be checked. Wheeler didn’t have the puck, he didn’t touch the puck. It was (Mark) Stuart who made the play on the puck.

One was eligible to be hit, checked legally — Stone. The other — Wheeler — was not.”

Malkin was given a two-minute interference penalty on the hit on Wheeler, even though he left his feet and clearly made contact with Wheeler’s head. The Jets were immediately incensed by the hit and went after Malkin, who has a reputation for questionable hits but has never been suspended.

“My take on the play on the ice on the Wheeler hit was that Malkin should have been given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for interference,” Fraser said. “Because of the fact that he launched, that his feet were totally off the ice at the point of impact.

“The Malkin check got some body, it was through the body, but he got a lot of the head and because of his elevation, his launch upward off the ice, it created considerable contact to Wheeler’s head. Had he stayed with his skates on the ice and checked through the shoulder, it would have still been interference but it wouldn’t have gone to the level of a major and a game misconduct and also serious consideration for supplemental discipline.”

NHL spokesman John Dellapina took time to explain to the Sun on Monday why the NHL saw the two hits differently.

In essence NHL player safety did not believe Malkin’s principal contact was with Wheeler’s head. Instead, they believe the body took the main brunt of the impact.

He also said the DoPS did not believe Malkin launched himself at Wheeler, even though he left his feet.

Finally, he said Wheeler reached for the puck, so even though he didn’t touch it, it was not a case of intentional interference by Malkin.

Former NHL general manager and TSN analyst Craig Button agreed with the league’s assessment.

“Malkin did not make the head the principal point of contact,” Button said. “He made the hit on the body, the shoulder of Wheeler and rode up. You can make contact with head if you go through body. Trouba made the head the principal point of contact.”

Fraser vehemently disagreed with the assessment on the charging aspect of the hit.

In fact, he believes NHL player safety needs to change its criteria when it comes to protecting players by eliminating head shots.

Players who leave their feet and launch upwards — as Malkin did — can cause just as much damage to an opponent’s brain as another hit to the head, even if it’s determined they “went through the core” first.

“I think they are dissecting this too closely,” Fraser said. “They’re making it almost finite as to what the consideration is for supplementary discipline on contact to the head. Both guys got their bell rung, both guys had significant head contact. Stone’s was more direct and as more of the main point of contact so that’s where the Department of Player Safety, I would assume, separates it and says this one is worth two games, the other one is not.

“I disagree because of the elevation and the launch off the ice created significant head contact. It takes it out of an attempt to deliver a legal check. There’s nothing legal about it. He didn’t have the puck so it’s interference for sure. He’s not eligible to be checked and the launch upward created significant contact with the head. I think that’s where they need to go with this as it continues to evolve.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

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Department of Player Safety ' working at getting it right': Fraser

TORONTO — Kerry Fraser wants to make it clear that he is not “ragging” on the Department of Player Safety.

He just wants to see a level of co-operation between the league and the NHL Players Association to get all head shots out of the game.

“They’re working at getting it right,” he said.

“There’s some precedent setting situations and I think personally we need to reset the table at the start of the season with the Players Association and say ‘Hey guys we’ve got to straighten this out, we can’t have guys launching upward.”

“I’m suggesting that as we continually see the evolution of fixing this and trying to get a culture change, we need to look at the method used to deliver a body check,” Fraser said. “The players are leaving their skates when their opponent is vulnerable to deliver excessive velocity that isn’t required. It’s a culture that has to change and the league can’t do it on their own. They have to get a buy-in from the Players Association, in the off-season and they need to start fresh.”