NHL: 2010-11 Rule Enforcement Video

Did Raffi Torres make direct contact with the head?

Ah, the hot topic of the day.

Basically, what I deduced from the video is that if the player making the hit comes from the direction that the player recieving the hit is travelling, he should have had his head facing his direction of travel, and the hit is legal. If the player making the hit comes from the blind side, as in, comes from a direction that the player is not travelling, the hit is illegal. Furthermore, if the head is targetted, the hit is illegal, otherwise, it's legal.

Torres came from the direction that Seabrook was travelling towards, and did not deliberately target the head, therefore, should not be a suspension. The league agrees with me, as TSN reports there will be no further discipline.

I will add a couple of extras that I thought about further to this.
The initial Torres on Eberle hit should not have been a suspension, based on the Chara vs Plekanec hit.

Seabrook did not leave the ice for 15 minutes following the initial hit, so he should be suspended if anything. Any implications of a suspension should be null and void if the person who recieved the hit is not going to get properly checked out.

With hits from behind, the league puts the onus on the player getting hit, but with hits to the head, they put the onus on the player doing the hitting. Eberle was bent WAY over. Torres' elbow coming out was a follow-through to the hit, and was tucked in to his body at the time of the hit. Should not have been a suspension. And the league needs to pick a direction and go with it. All hits from behind should be the same as hits to the head.

I'm glad the league made the right call on this one anyways.