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Raffi Torres lays out Jordan Eberle with shot to the head

Vancouver Canucks v Atlanta Thrashers

ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 25: Raffi Torres #13 of the Vancouver Canucks skates against the Atlanta Thrashers at the Philips Arena on March 25, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Looking over the 9-game NHL schedule, the Vancouver Canucks trek to Edmonton to take on the Oilers may have been the least important game on the docket. It should have been just a routine game with the Canucks fine-tuning their game for the playoffs while the Oilers just continued to play out the string. But then Raffi Torres delivered a brutal shot to Jordan Eberle’s head and all the sudden, everything got a little more serious.

Torres received five minutes for elbowing, five minutes for the following fight, a game misconduct, and possibly much more tomorrow. Here is the video of the questionable hit and the commentary from the boys over on NHL On The Fly:

It’ll be interesting to see what the league does with this type of hit. Torres ignores the puck and makes principle contact with Jordan Eberle’s head. However, whether he elbows Eberle is up for debate. Some will say he led with the elbow and others will say he kept the elbow in when he delivered the hit. Also, it’s debatable whether it’s a blindside Rule 48 hit because Eberle sees the check coming at the last minute. Herein lies the problem: if it’s not an elbowing call and if it’s not a Rule 48 hit, then how would Colin Campbell suspend Torres?

Clearly, the NHL will take a long look at this hit for the simple reason that Torres was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit to the head. Just from a quick look at the hit, it’s the type of thing the league is trying to get out of the game. Headshots are the buzzword of the moment and this was a shot to the head. Going further, this is a specific example why some of the GMs would like to see all headshots banned from the game. It wouldn’t matter if it Torres led with his elbow and it wouldn’t matter if it was from the blindside—a headshot is an illegal headshot. Simple as that.

How did you see the hit? Did the officials get it right on the ice when they called it an elbow? More importantly, do you think Torres deserves a suspension for his hit?