When the San Jose Sharks acquired Raffi Torres late in the season there were some fans that weren’t thrilled with the move based on his history of illegal checks that resulted in suspensions.
Since February of 2011 he has received discipline from the league 11 times including the announcement today that he will miss the rest of the series against the defending champion Los Angeles Kings. Unfortunately for him this was a classic example of the NHL making its ruling off his reputation then what actually happened on the ice.
The principal point of contact was the shoulder, not the head. Though the video explanation for the suspension stated that it was a “glancing blow” and that the “point of contact was the head.” It truly isn’t the case. What what really happened is that Stoll had his head down, a no-no when it comes to playing the puck.
As Torres went to make the hit on the Kings center, his momentum took him forward causing contact with the head. A penalty for charging got called and Stoll did not return to the game and isn’t likely to play tonight for game two. Based on reputation alone and the resulting injury. Shouldn’t it be expected that the referees call a game misconduct and throw him out if the head was truly targeted?
Brendan Shanahan the Senior VP of Player Safety should just go out and state that the suspension got made based solely on Torres’ past indiscretions as any other player there’s wouldn’t be a suspension.