I give credit to the NHL for their transparency.
I do NOT give credit to the NHL for the obvious issues it has with allowing players with no place on the ice to continuing plying their "trade".
The San Jose Sharks' Raffi Torres has been banned for the first half the 2015-16 NHL season (to begin Wednesday -- this hit was in a PRESEASON GAME) for a hit on Jakub Silverberg of Anaheim.
The Player Safety video is below.
The NHL notes that, due to injury, Torres has appeared in only 15 games since his last NHL suspension.
According to most sources, the league is incorrect. He's only appeared in FIVE games since the Stoll suspension. Torres did not play at all in 2014-15.
He was suspended 21 games for a 2012 playoff hit (while member of the Phoenix Coyotes) Marian Hossa. The suspension materially ended his tenure in Phoenix, in which he played only two months more (28 games) before being traded to San Jose.
He's played 16 games there (11 in 2012-13 and 5 in 2013-14), and was banned for the rest of the second round of the 2012-13 playoffs (a year in which he only played 10-11 games!) for a hit on Jarret Stoll.
I really want to know why he's ever going to be allowed back. This is his fifth suspension, along with three fines, for shots to the head. If we're going to make a point of it, Raffi Torres has played in FIVE NHL contests since the Stoll suspension.
41 games is NOT SUFFICIENT. Raffi Torres needs to be banned from the National Hockey League by Commissioner Gary Bettman, as a continued threat to the other players on the ice.
Period.
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