Spector on Torres: The challenge of change
Posted January 3, 2012 1:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CHICAGO – When they remade the game coming out the 2004-05 lockout, there were slower, old school players like Richard Matvichuk or Derian Hatcher who lacked the mobility for the new game. The new rules eliminated their strong points (obstruction), and exacerbated their weaknesses (speed).
Now without all that hooking and holding, yesterday’s valuable hitter is today’s concussion on skate blades. Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke has very publicly promised to change his game. Toronto’s Colby Armstrong, once one of the league’s most dangerous hitters, has quietly left that element of his game behind.
Raffi Torres, who has walked more times than Tony Soprano, finally got two games Monday for a bad hit on Minnesota’s Nate Prosser. It was a head shot that would have been nothing a couple seasons ago, and one that Torres has been delivering ever since he came into the NHL.
“It’s weird now,” said Chicago’s Daniel Carcillo, a self-described, energy player. “Now, you have to process every hit that you’re about to make. It’s really, really hard. But if you don’t want to sit out games and get fined, you have to start doing it.”
Carcillo clearly didn’t “process” a dangerous hit on Edmonton’s Tom Gilbert Monday in Chicago. He took a five-minute boarding call and a game misconduct for a hellacious collision that injured both he and the Oilers defenceman. That video will be on Brendan Shanahan’s laptop Thursday morning, you can bet.
Then there is (Teflon) Torres, who has beaten a groove to the door of the NHL’s Senior V.P. of Player Safety of late. Torres was not suspended for a shoulder to the head of Boston defenceman Andrew Ference on Dec. 28, and was let off with a fine after a headshot on Colorado defenceman Jan Hejda on Dec. 29.
Undeterred, Torres skated out the very next game against Minnesota and cracked Prosser with a patented shoulder to the head. Three games, three questionable head shots from a player who has forged a career out of being either a predator, or an effective energy player, depending on how you want to look at it.
“(The energy player) thinks a certain way for years, now because of the rules, you have to think differently,” said Blackhawks assistant GM Marc Bergevin. “You really have to be careful, looking for the big hit. Smart players will adjust, but it’s not going to be easy.
“The big fighters, they’re not as effective as they used to be,” Bergevin adds. “Guys who go head-hunting, they have no choice. They have to change their game.”
Torres, your classic head hunter, seems unable to adapt. So the question is, can he stay in the league?
“I’d have him on my team any day,” a veteran player said Monday. “Absolutely,” added another.
Both agreed that Torres, eventually, will be suspended so many times that he’ll be forced to change. Neither were positive that Torres has enough game, outside of his penchant for the devastating hit, to be a valued player should he drop that element from his repertoire.
But the point is, as much as the league has tried to eliminate the predator from its ranks, NHL players still like a guy like that on their team.
Players will take one for the team in hockey. Always have, always will.
But ask a guy to take a 10-game suspension for the team – and the ensuing loss of one-eighth of your salary – and the answer will be, “No way. My wife will kill me.”
As Shanahan’s suspensions evolve, eventually Teflon Torres will become that repeat offender who simply can’t afford not to change his game. He took a four-game suspension late last season, when as a member of the Vancouver Canucks he delivered a dangerous head check to Jordan Eberle. In the playoffs, when he concussed Chicago defenceman Brent Seabrook, the league came up with that “hitting zone” song and dance, and Torres walked. He went on to score a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Final, it must be noted.
“This game happens quick, and you have to react,” Carcillo said. “Once you start thinking, it hinders your play. Especially us energy guys. You have to be more conscious. If somebody is in a bad position, maybe you have to let ’em off the hook.”
Hours after saying that, Carcillo threw a highly dangerous hit on Gilbert in a situation that surely did not call for a hit of that magnitude.
But he did it anyway, and Torres will too, when he gets back. It’s in their DNA. It’s what got them to this level.
Even if they want to change, you have to wonder if there is enough player left, without the game changing hit.
