There's throwing the book at a guy and then there's what the NHL did to the San Jose Sharks' Raffi Torres on Monday. The NHL took the book, thought about it for a day, tossed it aside and then imposed one of the longest suspensions in history against Torres, a serial offender who seems incapable of changing his head-hunting ways. Torres, who missed all of last year recovering from injury, will miss the first half this year as well, his 41-game suspension the longest ever imposed by the NHL's player safety department for an intentional hit to the head. Maybe because he didn't play last year, Torres didn't get the memo.
In an era when concussion awareness is at an all-time high – and the NHL still has to defend its concussion record in a Minnesota court against a long list of ex-players turned plaintiffs – you cannot do what Torres did to Jakob Silfverberg in Saturday's exhibition game between the Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks.
As Silfverberg crossed the blueline and was stripped of the puck, Torres came across the zone and went from low to high, driving his shoulder up and through to deliver a check where the principal point of contact, according to the player safety department ruling, was Silfverberg's head.
Torres received a match penalty on the play and you could tell from his body language after the call was made he genuinely couldn't believe he was getting a penalty on the play. Torres has used the excuse before in previous pleas to the NHL court – the only way he can play in the NHL is by employing a seek-and-destroy style of fore-checking.
Maybe that was once a useful defence. It isn't any more.
The NHL preseason has been relatively incident-free this year, the message collectively sinking in to all but a handful of recidivists – that concussions are a bad thing; that hits to the head can cause a long, slow decline in the quality of an ex-player's life; and that there can still be a level of physical play in the game, as long as you don't target an opponent's head, especially when he's in a vulnerable position.
Torres has previously been suspended four times, most recently in a 2013 playoff game after delivering a hit to the head of the Los Angeles Kings' Jarret Stoll.
Because of his own injury issues, Torres had played in only 15 games since that suspension, which lasted the entire second round of the playoffs.
The year before, playing for the Phoenix Coyotes, Torres received a 25-game suspension for a hit to the head of the Chicago Blackhawks' Marian Hossa in another playoff series. The suspension was reduced to 21 games upon appeal – and Torres has the option here of appealing his latest ban as well.
Beyond the four suspensions, Torres has also been fined three times and warned twice more about his bodychecking style – and how it is no longer a play permitted in or condoned by the NHL.
Everybody deserves a second chance and sometimes you can justify giving someone a third or even a fourth opportunity to change an ingrained pattern of behaviour.
Torres didn't become this player by accident. The fact he has 703 games played on his NHL résumé and is still employed tells you some teams believe his brand of intimidation can be a useful thing.
But this was Torres's 10th appearance on the NHL carpet – too many to ponder any extenuating circumstances or root causes. The NHL sent a strong message – those who won't or can't change aren't getting off with a slap on the wrist any more.
The Torres ban was meaningful, eye-catching and really left you wondering just one thing: What took so long?