Despite his ability to create controversy, the San Jose Sharks are content with having Raffi Torres on their team. The club announced Thursday that it had signed the winger to a three-year contract.
Torres has been a journeyman throughout his career in the NHL. He started his career with the New York Islanders back in 2001-02 but left Long Island for Edmonton in 2003-04. He played for the Oilers until the 2007-08 before heading to Columbus for two years. After a brief stint in Buffalo, Torres played in Vancouver in 2010-11 and played with Phoenix for the two seasons thereafter. He came to San Jose in 2012-13 and registered six points in 11 games. However, the most notable part of his season will always be the controversial hit on Jarret Stoll in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. He was suspended for the remainder of the playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings; the year before he earned a 21-game suspension for a hit on Marian Hossa as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes. Torres has accumulated four suspensions throughout his career.
"Every player comes with some level of risk. We're obviously very comfortable with this," Sharks general manager Doug Wilson stated during a conference. "Raffi, in the last year -- and credit goes to [coaches] Dave Tippett in Phoenix and Todd [McLellan] here -- has transformed and evolved his game and become a very effective player."
"It's great, just a big sigh of relief for myself and family," Torres said about the extension. "For the short time we were [in San Jose] we really enjoyed it and knew right away -- just my wife, the mood I was in coming back from rink, it's a great organization and when we got the news we were thrilled."
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