Raffi Torres wants to focus on 'being a little smarter'

Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres knows he needs to change the way he plays and wants to focus on "being a little smarter."

The last time we saw Raffi Torres on the ice for the Phoenix Coyotes, he leveled Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa with a vicious hit. The play knocked Hossa out for the remainder of the teams' first-round Stanley Cup playoff series and earned Torres a lengthy suspension that kept him out of the rest of the 2012 playoffs and will prevent him from playing in the Coyotes' first eight games of the 2012-13 regular season.

Speaking with Sarah McClellan of the Arizona Republic this week, Torres acknowledged that he needs to change the way he plays and avoid hits like the one shown above.

"I've gone back and watched a lot of video of the way I need to play," Torres told McClellan. "At the end of the day, the hit was a little late and it was a little high. Ultimately, I'll have to deal with the consequences. And if it's eight games, it's eight games.

"I don't think I can afford to go through something like that again. I'll just focus on my timing, being a little more smarter, and instead of launching myself just remember to keep my feet on the ice and kind of go through guys."

Torres plays an extremely physical game and has been known to cross the line on more than one occassion. Along with the 21-game suspension that he received for the hit on Hossa (it was reduced from 25), he was also suspended for two other hits over the past two seasons, including four games for a hit on Edmonton's Jordan Eberle and another two for a hit on Minnesota's Nate Prosser.

He's saying the right things at this point, but it still comes down to actually doing it on the ice.

We saw a similar story last summer, when Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke vowed to change his ways after multiple suspensions for illegal hits. It was greeted with a "we'll believe it when we see it" type of response from the hockey community. To Cooke's credit, he followed through with his promise during the 2011-12 season. He managed to not only avoid another suspension, he also didn't have much of anything that was worthy of a look by the NHL's disciplinary committee, finishing the season with only 44 penalty minutes. He had 129 the season before.

If Cooke can follow through on it and change his game -- and remain a productive, useful player -- there is no reason Torres can't as well.

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