Raffi Torres Faces Suspension After Hit on Jarrett Stoll

As the San Jose forward faces disciplinary action for his hit on Jarret Stoll, Mike Schultz wonders if Raffi Torres is a old-school goon or just a rock-’em, sock-’em hockey player in an era when rocking and socking is no longer acceptable in the NHL.

Hockey’s concern about injuries isn’t as extreme as football’s, but it’s getting there. The sight of Montreal’s Lars Eller unconscious in a pool of his own blood after a headshot from Ottawa’s Eric Gryba in the Sens/Habs first round playoff game already had the NHL on Defcon One. When Torres zinged Stoll on Tuesday night, the League had no option but to take action.

The hits are quite similar. Both Eller and Stoll were on open ice, but Eller had at least received the puck, while it was some distance away from Stoll. In both cases, Gryba and Torres came in from the blind side and, in the process of delivering the body-checks that hockey is all about, ended up hitting their men in the head and sending them to the hospital.

Gryba got a two game suspension, and ended up dinged himself last night when Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik levelled him in the second period of the Pens/Sens Game 1 last night. What goes around, comes around – that’s the game. But the problem for Raffi Torres is that he is a repeat offender, all out of second chances.

Chicago is the current favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year. One of the reasons the Blackhawks didn’t win it last year is because Marian Hossa was put in hospital by Raffi Torres when Torres played for Phoenix. Torres got a 25-suspension for that hit (later reduced to 21 on appeal) and once you’ve got that long a suspension there’s a marker on your file at NHL HQ with a big skull and crossbones on it.

And that’s why Torres is flying in to New York today for a meeting with Brendan Shanahan. The hit on Stoll wasn’t as bad as the hit on Hossa – Torres didn’t leave the ice for the hit on Stoll – but it was still a concussive injury and the League is determined to stamp those out insofar as that’s possible in a physical game. As for the Kings, they’ve lost one of their top guys and as anyone who understands hockey betting can tell you, you need all your top guys on the ice if you’re going to win games.

In an earlier era, Torres might have been a hero, the toast of blue-collar hockey bars in all the hockey towns of Canada and the USA. Now, he’s yesterday’s man, playing a game of which the NHL no longer approves. He’d better brace himself today – somebody’s going to throw the book at him.