Holiday Celebrations and Dirty Hits: Raffi Torres to Face Suspension for Hit on Nate Prosser

by BReynolds on Jan 1, 2012 2:12 PM CST in News

The entire Hockey Wilderness crew took last night off, so we are late arriving to the party on this, but it seems all it takes to get a hearing from Brendan Shanahan for making a dirty hit on a Wild player is for you to already have made two dirty hits in your previous two games. We'll keep this simple, since it appears to already be in the process.

When you get done reading this post, ask yourself one question... why does this hit warrant a suspension, but the others in the past three weeks did not? If you have an answer, please let us know, because we can't quite figure it out.

The system has grown so irritating that it makes little sense to ponder such questions, but for your sake, and the sake of the debate, we continue to ask for the input of fans. Even if Mr. Shanahan explicitly says he doesn't care what you think. Wait, sorry... he "doesn't have time" for what you think. We're certain he cares, or would say so if asked. After all, hockey fans are what make the game great, right?

Here is the video:

The video isn't great, since the hit happened just as the camera was panning away, but it does show Torres get there late, and hit Prosser up high. How this isn't just a prototypical "heel pick" escapes me. (That was dripping with sarcasm, folks.)

And from NHL.com:

Coyotes' forward Raffi Torres faces a disciplinary hearing Monday morning for his hit on Wild defenseman Nate Prosser during Saturday's game. There was no penalty assessed on the play.

With the hearing already scheduled, and Torres having just been fined (that $2500 is a real deterrent) for a dirty hit in his last game, and escaping punishment the game before that, it is clear the league wants to send Mr. Torres a message. Our bet? If Torres had not just been fined, this doesn't get a second look.

Nice to see a dirty hit get punished, and yet at the same time, offers little comfort or clarity to the process.

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Comments

putting on the foil (hat)

Was Torres only fined for hit on Avs so he could injure another Wild player or so he could play against the Wild and if he screwed up Shanahan could say “look see, suspension on hit against the Wild!”

foil hat off

whatever. about the only honest thing out of shanahan’s mouth was that you can’t suspend a player because another team had a questionable hit the game before. And though I have yet to see a close up, this hit doesn’t look nearly as bad as ones that went unpunished. This doesn’t make up for the fact that his lack of punishment has made it open season on Wild players

http://twitter.com/knowsknothing

by jerem77 on Jan 1, 2012 2:18 PM CST reply actions

I actually spent the Eve ignoring my girlfriend’s parents and watching this game. I thought that the Torres hit should have been a penalty. Clear case of charging. The only confusing part was when Greenlay laid out some of his pearls of wisdom and said that, “it was a clean hit”. Great job, Mr. Dumber.
Doesn’t surprise me that a guy like Torres would launch at another player like that. I am surprised that a charging is what it takes to get a phone call. I guess that launching yourself is way more dangerous than a hit to the numbers next to the boards.

You know you're a Wild fan if Spam Whoopie Gerald-buns comes up in conversation
Regressing all the way back to high school hockey.
Mikael Granlund = Suomi Savior

by JDesthubert on Jan 1, 2012 4:38 PM CST reply actions