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Heads up: Torres says he’s ready for Sharks opener

Raffi Torres

Raffi Torres

AP

Just when you thought it was safe to swim behind the red line again ...

All labored “Jaws” references aside, Raffi Torres believes that he’s healthy enough to play in the San Jose Sharks’ season opener, according to CSNBayArea.com’s Kevin Kurz.

Kurz explains that the bigger question is whether Sharks management, particularly head coach Peter DeBoer, believes that he’s truly capable.

” ... Obviously with him, he’s been out a long time. He’s worked awfully hard to get to this point,” DeBoer said. “I think if you asked him, he’s probably not where he was when he left healthy, but he’s working back towards that and I think he’s getting better every game.”

Indeed, Torres admitted that he’s still a bit limited by right knee issues that have troubled him for the past couple years. Torres said that he “had no real jump” during the second and third periods of a recent exhibition, for instance.

That doesn’t really sound too promising, although Torres is still able to land some big hits here and there.

That intimidating presence - along with an ability to keep up, at least before his knee injury - was part of what made Torres so valuable before.

Torres says “I’ll let my play dictate my fate,” but the Sharks are ultimately the ones who get to choose his destiny.