TORONTO — There’s a very simple bottom line to the story that has caused the Winnipeg Jets and their fans to simmer with anger for the last few days — Jacob Trouba got what he deserved.

In fact, even the most enraged fans would likely agree with that statement, the Jets players and management too.

Intentional or not, Trouba was at very least reckless and for that he will get some time in the press box to think it over.

Trouba was suspended for two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Monday after he hit Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone in the head with his shoulder Sunday. Stone was injured on the third-period play and did not return to a game the Jets wound up winning 3-2.

Even though he was assessed only a minor penalty on the ice, this is the kind of punishment that needs to be handed out if the NHL is ever going get these dangerous hits out of the game.

Which brings us to the true source of the Manitoba ire — Evgeni Malkin’s head shot on Jets captain Blake Wheeler during a game in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Jets management was furious that NHL player safety did not view Malkin’s hit to be worthy of consideration for a suspension. Twitter was ablaze with fans venting their displeasure over the quick dismissal of Malkin’s actions.

Then Sunday’s hit and Monday’s suspension came along, with conspiracy theories in tow, many of the faithful believing Malkin and the Penguins were receiving preferential treatment while the Jets were yet again getting the shaft from the league.

In no way do I believe that’s the case, but I do think the NHL dropped the ball on the Malkin hit. And so does former NHL referee Kerry Fraser.

"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."

Both hits looked bad, both should have resulted in suspensions and both should be out of this game before concussions become the ruination of the league.

Certainly not everyone agrees.

“Malkin did not make the head the principal point of contact,” TSN analyst and former NHL general manager Craig 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.”

Some of that sounds like semantics. A concussion could just as easily have been incurred on either hit.

An NHL spokesman provided the Sun with a detailed explanation of the Malkin hit, on which the Penguins player left his feet, made contact with Wheeler’s head and hit a player who did not have the puck.

NHL director of media relations John Dellapina said there were three things that were really close to the line but the DoPS didn’t believe any of the three crossed the line to take it to a suspension.

First, the illegal check to the head: “They watch thousands of these and they think that the body took the main brunt. While the head might have been the first point of contact, that’s not relevant in the rule any more. Principal doesn’t mean first. They judge main and they believe that the shoulder took the main brunt of the hit.”

Secondly, the charging: “That was probably the one they thought was closest. At contact, his feet are in the process of coming off the ice. The way they usually suspend for charging is when they feel somebody launched himself into somebody. They don’t think that’s this. They think this is people coming together in the centre of the ice, you kind of brace yourself and lift up.”

Thirdly, the interference: “While it’s technically interference, the way they apply the rules, if a guy is making a play on the puck, the fact that he fails to make the play on the puck doesn’t preclude you from hitting him (Wheeler reached for the puck but it was fired away by teammate Mark Stuart before he could touch it).”

Trouba had his hearing Monday afternoon and the DoPS put out a video, which said the head was the main point of contact on the Stone hit in a situation where contact with the head was avoidable.

“The onus here is on Trouba to deliver a full-body hit, through his opponent’s core. Instead, Trouba takes a poor angle of approach, picking Stone’s head and making it the main point of contact on a forceful hit.”

Trouba has not been fined or suspended for illegal hits before in the NHL and though Stone did not return to the game, he is apparently not seriously injured.

Both of those factors were taken into consideration in assessing Trouba a two-game suspension.

It was fitting even if previous events made it not sit well.

Twyman@postmedia.com