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Bettman reduces Torres suspension by four games (Updated)

torresgetty

James

Big non-free agent news Monday -- TSN’s Darren Dreger reports Raffi Torres has successfully (somewhat) appealed his 25-game suspension.

According to sources, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will reduce the remaining time on Torres’ suspension from 12 games to eight.

UPDATE: The NHL has released a statement, though it doesn’t explain why the suspension was reduced.

The length of the suspension includes the 13 games Torres already served during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Torres therefore will remain suspended, without pay, for the first eight games of the upcoming regular season. Because he is classified as a repeat offender under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Torres will forfeit $170,731.68 in salary. In addition, Torres will be ineligible to participate in any preseason games until he has served the full term of the suspension.

“This type of on-ice conduct cannot and will not be tolerated in the National Hockey League,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We have seen similar behavior before from Mr. Torres and, particularly given the League’s heightened scrutiny on hits to the head, I believe that a very significant penalty is warranted in this case. We hope and expect that the severity of this incident, and the League’s response to it, will help prevent any similar incident from occurring in the future.”

It’s a significant decision and one rife with ramifications -- Bettman has overruled the longest and arguably most controversial decision of Brendan Shanahan’s time as NHL discipline czar.

Torres was suspended 25 games for a hit on Chicago’s Marian Hossa during Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. The severity of the hit, combined with Torres’ repeat offender status, led to Shanahan issuing the second-longest suspension (tied) for an on-ice incident in modern NHL history.

Torres missed the final 13 games of Phoenix’s postseason.

This successful appeal will be an interesting conversation piece as the NHL and NHLPA continue to negotiate towards a new collective bargaining agreement.

Almost immediately after Shanahan handed down his ruling, Torres released a statement through the PA -- that was followed by a the PA’s appeal request, claiming the suspension was “excessive and arbitrary” and “more than double the length of any ever issued by Brendan Shanahan and is one of the longest suspensions in the history of the NHL.”

The NHLPA also wanted to see supplementary discipline dished out in a “consistent manner,” and stated the hearing and subsequent Torres’ suspension “violated the very basic requirements of a fair process.”