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SAN JOSE – More than three months after he collided with the Anaheim Ducks’ Emerson Etem in a preseason game, Raffi Torres continues to rehab from a right ACL injury that has prevented him from making his season debut.
Although he's improving, Torres is still nowhere close to returning, and refuses to put a timetable on it. Torres said he typically skates two or three days in a row, and then takes a break.
“You go a little too hard, and it could be sore for a couple days,” said Torres, who had surgery on the knee on Sep. 26. “I’m just trying to stay around 60 percent.”
“I’m not feeling any pain, or anything like that. It’s just a little discomfort, something that’s pretty manageable. As far as pushing it pretty hard, there are things I can do out there a little bit harder than other things.”
Torres was asked if he could still say he will return at some point this season.
“Today, yeah, I’d say I come back this year, for sure.”
Original estimates by general manager Doug Wilson had Torres returning after the Olympic break, which is still nearly two months away. The Sharks visit Philadelphia on Feb. 27 after the league shuts down for the games.
Torres, though, tries not to think about the next time he’ll be in an NHL game, as he tries to recover from his second major right knee surgery in six years.
“Trying to get that out of my head,” he said.
“I feel like if I start doing that and things and things don’t go well, I’ll be disappointed.”
He continues to work off of the ice with the team’s training staff.
“I’m in great shape, I’m light, [Sharks trainers Mike Potenza and Ray Tufts] have done a great job of keeping me motivated when I don’t want to come in and do anything. Sometimes they want to strangle me, sometimes I want to strangle them. But, for the most part, it’s balanced out pretty nice, and so far so good.”
