The San Jose Sharks will be without the services of rugged winger Raffi Torres for at least Thursday night’s game and most likely longer. Torres has flown to New York for a face to face discussion with the head of discipline Brendan Shanahan, which usually means a lengthy suspension.
The NHL has stated that Torres is suspended, the question remains for how long.
Torres hit former teammate Jarret Stoll on Tuesday night and although the initial point of contact was the shoulder with Raffi’s history there is little chance that he will get the benefit of the doubt.
After game one the Sharks coach Todd McLellan stated that he thought it was a clean hit.
It is unfortunate but the NHL is becoming known as the No Hit League and if things keep up the way they are body checking may become a thing of the past. One thing every player, analyst, blogger, or parent who signs their kids up for hockey have to remember is that hockey is a tough physical sport and just because a player gets hurt it doesn’t mean that somebody else is at fault. Even if Stoll saw him coming and prepared to take the hit he still may have been hurt.
Let’s face it if Eric Lindros played under the same rules that the league is governed today he may still be out there setting records. The onus is on the player to keep his head up and be aware of oncoming checkers.
I played organized hockey for over thirty years and many of those were full contact and I can tell you I learned the hard way to keep my head up. Keeping my head up made me a less effective player, but that was the whole point.
“We kind of questioned the call of the charging penalty to be honest with you” were the words out of team Captain Joe Thornton’s mouth a day after game one of the series when he had time review the hit.
“We were kind of shocked today to hear he has to fly to New York for the hearing.
“It seems like the player getting hit has no responsibility at all right now.
“The way I was brought up it was keep your head up; when I was six years old I was taught that.”
Torres’ history will certainly work against him after receiving a 25 game suspension in the playoffs last year for a hit on Marion Hossa, which was changed to 21 after the 2011/12 season ended. This year he did change his approach and recorded only 17 minutes in penalties.
The Sharks have a few options at who will replace Torres in the line-up, but none of them jump out at you. Bracken Kearns suited up on the fourth line last game instead of Tim Kennedy which makes us think that he has an undisclosed injury even though he was officially a healthy scratch.
Martin Havlat is fighting a groin injury and would be a nice addition but he hasn’t been skating with the team and Adam Burish is out for at least the second round.
If Kennedy is good to go it would benefit the team to have a player out there with some NHL playoff experience. Kennedy has played seven playoff games with Buffalo over his career.
The other names we may see suited up tonight are Freddie Hamilton, Travis Oleksuk, Matt Pelech, or Sebastian Stalberg. None of these players have any playoff experience and only Pelech has NHL experience but I would be surprised to see them dress an enforcer.
Whoever gets the nod for San Jose shouldn’t expect to see a lot of ice time. The Sharks are well rested for this time of year and just had a week off after finishing Vancouver in four games. Double shifting players is most likely to be seen in game two, especially since scoring goals was an issue in Tuesday night.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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