Jordin Tootoo….We all know his background…First man of Inuit descent to be drafted by an NHL team; First Inuit man to play in the NHL, score a goal in the NHL, etc etc. We know of the diet, raw whale blubber, raw caribou meat, the reputation of physical play that had him on many International tongues during the IIHF World U-20 Junior Hockey Championships. According to Predators personnel, he was the next big star to wear a Predators uniform…
His first game was surrounded with pomp and circumstance; people lined up wearing his “Team Tootoo” tie-die jerseys, people complaining because current Predator Greg Johnson wouldn’t give up his 22 jersey so Jordin could have it. His father was interviewed by many members of the press locally, and nationally, along with being broadcast across Canada. He wore 55 and when the team was introduced, he was the last player to come out to the ice, and had a spotlight beaming on him while he skated along the line of his teammates. AH yes, the sweet smell of “potential” with every hit or skirmish ending with a spotlight being placed on his father, along with his picture on the jumbotron with a loud ovation. Tootoo had arrived and the Preds people were going nuts over it. To ask a Predator fan, he is the toughest player in the NHL, and only takes on the biggest player on the ice and beats all the “heavyweights” around the NHL…My question is this……Does he???
When he does drop the mitts, more of then than not he drops them and gets a cheap shot in before his opponent can shed their gloves… I’m not a Tootoo fan, I think his style of play is at times dirty. He leaves his feet more often than not during his vicious checks, he will headhunt often, and he is a repeat offender at hitting from behind, with no remorse. I feel like he picks his fights (the info I will supply does back that claim) according to if he feels as if he can win or not. Many times when he fights, he drops his mitts and lands a sucker punch before the opponent can remove their gloves or helmet, thus giving him the upper hand. Such incidents of this, were the Stephane Robidas incident in 2007, for which he received a 5 game suspension; (this season 2008 he skated up to Brad Staubitz of the San Jose Sharks, dropped his mitt and decked the guy. Tape of that incident was sent to the NHL office, but nothing happened. Staubitz was able to get back at Tootoo later when they fought later in the game, Staubitz called Tootoo out prior to a faceoff and the fight ended in a draw)
The offensive skills are lacking (22g, 23a in 232 NHL games played) David Poile (Preds GM) continually states that Toots is indeed a skilled player, but they have tried numerous times to get his scoring going by placing him on a top line with an established scorer; (Forsberg, Kariya, Arnott, Dumont to name a few) but if you don’t pile up points with those guys on your line, I think its safe to say you never will.
I have made a list of Tootoo’s NHL fight log, I found this information at Hockeyfights.com, so it’s there in the open along with most of his fights available on You Tube for viewing. Some of these I remember the outcome without going back and viewing others I don’t ……. Some of these guys have fought Tootoo more than once, but ive only listed them once
Rostislav Klesla
Mike Danton – Danton and Tootoo fought many times , most during the minor league days, both have wins
Jamal Mayers – draw
Dallas Drake
Mathieu Dandanault – Tootoo wins
Mark Bell
Brad Ference
Jason Chimera
Jarome Iginla – Tootoo wins but hasn’t given Iginla a rematch yet.
Jeremy Reich
Darcy Verot – Tootoo
Tyler Wright – Tootoo
Marc Chouinard
David Ling
Todd Simpson – Simpson with a beatdown
Jeff Woywitka – Woywitka has no business fighting anyone……
Reed Low – Low lands 13 or 14 consecutive punches to Tootoos head, not even close
Nick Boynton – not even close, Tootoo kissed the ice
Kevin Bieksa – nice fight, some said draw, Bieksa won IMO
Steve Goertzen
Ole-Kristan Tollefsen – Tootoo wears this guy out
Eric Brewer – Brewer cant fight
Jay McClement – 22
Shane OBrien – nice win for Tootoo, OBrien is no slouch
Adam Foote – Foote wins in a boring fight, Miss Pickler in attendance below my seat.
Robyn Regehr – drop em early Tootoo
Ryane Clowe - beatdown by Clowe, this was during a playoff series
Steve McCarthy
Ian Laperriere
Krys Barch – Barch pulls the jersey over the head and pounds Tootoo
Joe DiPenta
James Wisniewski – WIZ beats Tootoo down, but sustains a knee injury in the process.
Adam Mair – another of Tootoo’s “JUMP” efforts, wasnt close Tootoo dominated this
Jan Hejda
Jared Boll – theyve fought more than once
Boris Valabik – not much footage of this, was in the preseason
Brandon Prust – Prust
Brad Staubitz – DRAW
Craig Weller- Tootoo easily, Weller cant fight
Alexandre Burrows – Burrows only fought because he had to, he wasn’t a willing participant
As you can see, most of these guys aren’t what you would call a “heavyweight” , I would go with “middleweight” for most. There are some that are not fighters at all….He is not beating anyone that would give substance to this status he is given by the Predator fans, nothing about his play would ever make him anything but a check line player; also add in the reckless abandon that he displays in throwing his body around during these checks, and within the next couple of seasons he will start to get the nagging injuries, especially in his shoulders.
I will admit that yes, he was good enough to make it to the NHL; but his lack of discipline on and off the ice shows, his game has not improved in either end of the ice; same with the skating. I feel he could be a much better player if he would work at it, but who knows what makes Tootoos head tick…what’s he capable of? does HE even know? Has complacency set in? For now I will have to say that this Nashville buildup of Tootoo is nothing more than the locals rallying behind the tough guy, but Tootoo doesn’t have a fan following around the NHL as did Probert, Domi, Kocur, McSorley, Gino Odjick, George Laraque to name a few…For now I’ll just have to say this is nothing more than a cult following , and in the case of Nashville….its a small one…….
