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Sharks ‘cautiously optimistic’ Torres (knee) can participate in camp

Los Angeles Kings v San Jose Sharks - Game Five

Los Angeles Kings v San Jose Sharks - Game Five

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Raffi Torres has played just 12 games over the last two years due to a myriad of knee problems.

But there is hope for his return.

“He’s heading in the right direction,” new Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said this week, per CBS Sacramento. "[That’s] probably the best way I can term it. We’ll see. We’re all cautiously optimistic.”

The optimism, specifically, is for Torres to try and take the ice when San Jose’s camp begins on Friday, Sept. 18. Torres, who didn’t play at all last year and underwent season-ending knee surgery in February, is heading into the last of a three-year, $6 million deal with a $2 million average annual cap hit -- a contract that, for the most part, he’s been unable to live up to.

Though it wasn’t for a lack of effort.

Torres initially had ACL replacement surgery in ’13-14 and worked hard to return, which he did during the club’s opening-round playoff collapse to Los Angeles. What followed, though, was a series of infections that led to a second ligament replacement procedure (the aforementioned February surgery.)

It’ll be very curious to see how Torres fares this season.

He turns 34 in October, hasn’t played in over 16 months and has to fight with a number of young wingers for minutes up front, including new Finnish rookie Joonas Donskoi who, according to AHL coach Roy Sommer, could be with the big club to start the season.