Raffi Torres, an alumnus of both the Edmonton Oilers and the San Jose Sharks, recalls the incredible Stanley Cup run of 2006
The human wrecking ball Raffi Torres was in the house in game five cheering on his old Oilers
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Raffi Torres, no longer skating and rambunctiously hitting and under the microscope from the National Hockey League’s player safety department for his on-ice actions, had his loyalties tested as the former winger watched Game 5 of the Edmonton Oilers-San Jose Sharks playoff series from a box at Rogers Place.
Torres played for both teams.
“Yeah, I just got a text from Joe (Thornton),” said Torres, who played for the Sharks for three injury-plagued, suspension-riddled years but had to quit at age 35 because his right knee was shot.
“But you know what they say … once an Oiler, always an Oiler, right?”
Indeed, Torres was an integral part of the Oilers’ magical 2006 run to the Stanley Cup Final, playing on a line with Fernando Pisani and centre Mike Peca. It was Torres who absolutely turned the second-round playoff series against the Sharks with his open-ice shot on San Jose’s top six forward Milan Michalek in Game 2, which put Michalek out of the series with a concussion.
“At the time it was a great hit and I remember getting a lot of pats on the back from the guys on our team, guys saying ‘we needed that, we needed a spark with a tough first two (losses) games in San Jose,’’’ said Torres. “It kind of turned things around.”
“I’m happy he was OK and nothing severe happened after it.”
But Torres had a target on his back with the NHL after the hit. He admits to bad timing and bad judgment. He was suspended five times from 2011-16 for head-shot hits; only one that he maybe didn’t deserve (a hit on Jarret Stoll while playing for the Sharks in the playoffs). He was suspended a total of 74 games — 41 for a pre-season hit on Jakob Silfverberg in 2015 while playing for the Sharks, 21 for a playoff smack on Marian Hossa while playing for the Arizona Coyotes. He got a four-gamer for a elbow on current Oiler Jordan Eberle, too, in a league game while playing for the Vancouver Canucks.
“Today, that (Michalek hit) could be a 20-, 25-gamer (suspension). Let’s be honest here,” he said.
“But I grew up watching Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em hockey (videos) 15 times a day. Don Cherry would spend 40 minutes on huge body-checks behind the net and I was thinking ‘oh my god, I love this.’ My dad would always say, ‘I don’t care if you can’t make a pass or you can’t score goals, but you better be the hardest-working guy on the ice.’ A combination of those things, it was hard for me to change my game. I realize that now.”
Today, Torres is living in Stouffville, Ont. 48 km outside of Toronto.
“Life has slowed down obviously. My family’s healthy and good,” said the father of two young children.
He says he’s watched his cash and doesn’t have to work. He made over $20 million.
“Thankfully I’m OK for money, not all of it, with what’s been given back to the league,” said a laughing Torres, who lost $441,000 for the Silfverberg shot.
“I have two young kids that keep me busy right now. My little guy just finished his Timbits year and my daughter is seven and is too busy putting lipstick on and wants to do her hair every day.”
He’s walking fine now. But skating was very difficult in San Jose.
.“I had a bunch of surgeries when I was in San Jose and couldn’t get over the hump,” said Torres, who signed a three-year, $6 million contract with Sharks in 2013 but immediately got hurt. “I blew my knee out at my first camp in San Jose and I always felt that because they’d given me a three-year deal, I couldn’t sit back and relax. If anything I pushed the envelope a bit to get back.”
He played only five games for Sharks because of his injured knee.
In the end, he begrudgingly quit after 635 NHL games, 246 of them with the Oilers.
His line here with Peca and Pisani was outstanding in 2006. He scored 11 points in 22 playoff games.
“Pecs had an OK regular-season and I remember sitting down before the first series with Detroit, and he said ‘let’s take this to another level,'” he said. “The first couple of games, we knew Pisani was doing something special, all the big goals he scored. I brought the energy factor, tried to get involved.”
Pisani greatly appreciated Torres’ on-ice fire 10 years ago.
“Raffi brought edge, intensity but he also brought goal-scoring,” said Pisani.
“When he stepped on the ice, everybody on the opposing team knew he was on the ice. Guys were looking over their shoulders and saying ‘where’s Raffi?’’
jmatheson@postmedia.com
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