Torres suspended for rest of second round

Mike Brehm | USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Kings aren't sure when injured center Jarret Stoll can return to playoff action.

But the San Jose Sharks now know that Raffi Torres won't be back for the second round.

The NHL ruled Thursday that Torres will have to sit out for the remainder of the Western Conference semifinal series against the Kings for his hit against Stoll.

But unlike the 21-game Torres suspension during last season's playoffs, this one won't cost the Sharks forward any regular-season games.

NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan ruled that the hit on Stoll, which has left him out of Game 2 and day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, violated the illegal hit to the head rule. Torres had been penalized for charging.

The play occurred late in the second period of Game 1 while Stoll was trying to gather in a bouncing puck.

"Rather than hit Stoll through the core of his body, Torres takes a route that makes Stoll's head the principal point of contact," Shanahan said in his explanatory video.

"Although we'd agree that Torres might have made initial contact with Stoll's shoulder, that is a glancing blow," he added. "In fact, the head is the principal point of contact."

The video goes on to explain that the movement of each player immediately after the hit showed that it was not a full shoulder-on-shoulder check, which would have been legal.

The Sharks trail 1-0 in the series, so the suspension would be anywhere from three games to six. If the Sharks beat the Kings and advance, Torres would be eligible to return.

Players are not paid during the playoffs, so there is no financial penalty attached to the player.

Last year, Shanahan had suspended Torres for 25 games (all of the potential remaining playoff games at the time) for his late, leaping hit against the Chicago Blackhawks' Marian Hossa. On appeal, Commissioner Gary Bettman imposed a 21-game suspension, which carried eight games into the 2012-13 season. Torres lost more than $170,000 in pay, plus what he didn't get during the lockout.

During the lockout, players gained the right to appeal a suspension to an independent arbitrator, but that only kicks in when the suspension is six games or more. This suspension might never hit six games.

Shanahan had cited Torres' repeat offender status (three suspensions, including the one for the Marian Hossa hit) in handing down Thursday's punishment.