Following his stunning 41-game suspension, it looks like Raffi Torres has at least one former teammate in his corner.
We haven’t yet seen how the San Jose Sharks or the NHLPA are reacting to the league’s hammer-dropping decision to punish Torres for his Torres-like hit on Jakob Silfverberg, but Jason Demers decided to put in a good word for Torres tonight.
It was a simple message: "#FreeTorres.”
— jason demers (@jasondemers5) October 5, 2015
Demers, now of the Dallas Stars, was once with Torres and the Sharks. (In case this post’s main image didn’t make that clear enough already.)
Perhaps this will become “a thing” at some point.
So far, it seems like it’s instead “a thing (that people are making fun of).”
#FreeTorres from any sort of sporting competition. Sports doesn't need him.
— Marc Quill of #RingCrashers (@MarcQuill) October 5, 2015
#FreeTorres. No, literally. We are leaving him in a wheelbarrow on the side of the road. Take him if you want him. He's your problem now.
— LinkedIn Park (@LeBronMaclean) October 5, 2015
... You get the idea.
The bottom line is that there are some who either a) blindly support Torres because they’re Sharks fans or b) simply think that the punishment was excessive.
The most important statement came from the Department of Player Safety, though.