Trouba breaks silence on baseball swing to Frederic's head.

New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba is speaking out after being the focus of much criticism over the weekend.

Trouba was fined $5,000 by the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety for a baseball-like swing of his stick at the head of Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic. The controversy stems from both the act itself and the perception of a relatively light punishment for Trouba, one that has been called out by the likes of Ron MacLean and Kevin Bieksa.

When he was asked about the incident on Monday, to his credit Trouba took full responsibility for the incident and made it clear that he feels incidents like that simply cannot happen in the sport of hockey or the NHL.

It can’t happen," said Trouba. "Saw the video of it and it didn’t look good… Gotta control my stick better. Take the fine and move on."

Many feel Trouba was lucky to get away with merely a fine and therefore it will come as no surprise that Trouba is willing to accept that level of discipline. That being said it is clear based on Trouba's response that he contends this was merely a case of him losing control of his stick, something that is reflected in the fact that the NHL's punishment was merely a fine.