Raffi Torres receives third-longest ban in NHL history as San Jose Sharks man is handed 41-game suspension

Lengthy ban: Torres will forfeit over £289,000 of his salary
Getty
Richard Parry7 October 2015

Raffi Torres has been banned for half of the 2015/16 NHL season for an ‘illegal check to the head and interference’ on Jakob Silfverberg of the Anaheim Ducks.

His 41-game ban is the third longest in NHL history, and sees the San Jose man forfeit $440,860 (£289,468) of his salary which will now go to the players' emergency assistance fund.

The incident took place during a pre-season match at the Honda Center on Saturday, and Torres subsequently received a match penalty to eject him from the game.

Silfverberg was taken off as a precaution, and a relieved Bruce Boudreau confirmed after the match that the winger had not sustained serious injury.

LONGEST NHL BANS

BILLY COUTO - 1927 - LIFE BAN
MARTY MCSOREY - 2000 - 1 YEAR
RAFFI TORRES - 2015 - 41 GAMES
CHRIS SIMON - 2007 - 30 GAMES

“He’s okay, and thank goodness for that,” the Anaheim coach told the team’s official website.

“Knowing this was the last pre-season game, there was no sense bringing him back. He could’ve played.”

It is the fifth suspension of Torres’s career, with the 33-year-old having been previously banned for 25 matches following a late hit on Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa in 2005, when playing for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Torres also received a four-game ban in 2011, and further two games just eight and half months later following another illegal hit to the head. Three months later, the incident with Hossa occurred.

To date, Torres’ suspensions have seen him forfeit a total of $667,500 (£438,250) in salary.

You can watch the incident in full below, accompanied by the NHL Player Safety’s explanation. Warning, graphic images.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in