“The players are getting it,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last week in his New York office. That department is now headed by Stephane Quintal. Suspensions were down 49 per cent last season from 2011-12, the first year Brendan Shanahan was in charge of the Department of Player Safety.
Torres’s suspension flies in the face of a positive trend for the NHL. Marty McSorley was banned for a year in 2000 and wound up serving 23 games for his stick to the head of Donald Brashear, while Todd Bertuzzi served 20 games for attacking Steve Moore from behind in 2004. Torres’s previous high was 25 games for the hit on Hossa in the 2012 playoffs. Silfverberg left for precautionary reasons but was considered OK. Silfverberg was his latest victim when Torres lined up the Swede during Saturday night’s pre-season game and drove his left shoulder upwards into his head. Torres had already been suspended for hits to the head of Jordan Eberle (April 2011), Nate Prosser (December 2011), Marian Hossa (April 2012) and Jarret Stoll (2013). He has also been fined three times and warned twice in 703 games, according to director of player safety Patrick Burke, who narrated the suspension video. Torres is one of the worst head-shot offenders in recent years, since the Department of Player Safety began cracking down on them. NEW YORK – The NHL handed out one of its longest suspensions for on-ice conduct in league history by banning San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres 41 games for an illegal hit to the head of Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg. Send this page to someone via email email.