"Under fire, Brendan Shanahan came to his own defence over his decision not to suspend Wojtek Wolski.

Speaking to the NHL Network Wednesday, Shanahan claimed he didn't feel it was necessary to make Wolski sit for hitting Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson last Saturday.

"Wolski's not a dirty player, and has no history of being a dirty player. There are collisions that occur on the ice where, unfortunately, one player sees it just prior," said Shanahan.

"We've seen enough of these now, and I don't like these, but seen enough of them where when one player sees (the hit) just prior, he tenses up.

And sometimes he even leans in, because he's bracing for an impact."