Ducks' Getzlaf approves of Torres' suspension: ‘That's good'

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SAN JOSE -– The Sharks and Ducks are set to meet for the first time since last Saturday’s preseason finale, when Raffi Torres charged and clobbered the Ducks’ Jakob Silfverberg with an illegal check to the head.

The play earned Torres a 41-game suspension, or half of the NHL regular season, and his future with the club and in the league remains cloudy.

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf hasn’t forgotten about the hit, and approves of the ban by the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

“I don’t think it’s ever out of your mind, but I don’t warn the San Jose Sharks on what Raffi Torres does,” Getzlaf said. “He got his suspension, it’s handed down to him, and we won’t see him for a long time. That’s good.”

[KURZ: Kings' Brown, Lucic avoid further discipline for hits on Couture]

Torres issued a formal apology on Thursday. Silfverberg wasn't quite ready to accept it.

“I don’t know. It’s tough to say, but it’s nice of him to apologize,” said Silfverberg, who went through the league’s concussion protocol and is set to play. “I’m grateful for that. I think it was a bad hit, and I’m just leaving it at that.”

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The hit was frightening to the 24-year-old forward, who was acquired from Ottawa in the 2013 offseason as part of the trade for Bobby Ryan.

“I was conscious the whole time, so obviously I got a little bit scared,” he said. “It’s tough to really describe it, but obviously if you get hit pretty hard in the head it’s going to scare you a little bit. The mind starts rolling around when it happened and stuff, but overall it was a little bit of a scary moment.”

[KURZ: Torres breaks silence, issues statement on suspension]

It’s common to see feelings of ill will boil over between the Sharks and Ducks whenever the two Pacific Division rivals meet, but Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau doesn’t expect anything to carry over from the Torres situation.

“The game is too important,” Boudreau said. “When we play a Pacific Division team, it’s about playing the game. I think it will be what we usually see out of these two teams – two hard–hitting, skating teams.”

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