Sharks' Torres could face another suspension
When it comes to NHL players with bad reputations for their on-ice behavior, San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres has to be near the very top of the list.
He has already been suspended four times in his NHL career, with the most recent coming during the 2012-13 Stanley Cup playoffs when he was suspended for the remainder of the Sharks’ second round series against the Los Angeles Kings for an illegal check to the head of Jarret Stoll, a banishment that turned out to be six games.
Since that suspension he has been limited to just five games due to injury over the two years that followed.
He is finally back healthy for the start of the 2015-16 season and he didn’t even make it to the regular season before doing something that could once again have him in hot water with the NHL’s department of player safety.
Torres was assessed a match penalty during the second period of the Sharks’ exhibition game against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night for hitting Jakob Silfverberg in the side of the head, knocking him out of the game. Silfverberg did not return to the game.
Saturday’s game was not televised so there is no good video of the hit available at the moment (other than this clip a fan captured from a replay on the arena’s scoreboard — and even from that distance it’s a nasty looking hit), but the combination of Torres’ discipline history, the fact he was assessed a match penalty, as well as the fact that Silfverberg was injured and did not return to the game are all going to count against him.
Along with the aforementioned suspension during the 2012-13 postseason, Torres also has a 21-game suspension on his resume for a hit that knocked Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa out of the 2011-12 playoffs when Torres was a member of the Arizona Coyotes. That suspension was initially 25 games but was later reduced.
He has been suspended two other times in his career, including a four-game ban in 2011 when he elbowed Edmonton Oilers forward Jordan Eberle in the head.
In the past, Torres has talked about changing the way he plays and trying to avoid these types of incidents.
San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres could be facing yet another suspension from the NHL. (USATSI)
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