SAN JOSE -– Raffi Torres is back on the long-term injured list. Again.
On Wednesday, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said that the winger would miss significant time -- perhaps as much as half of this season -– after his surgically repaired right knee became infected on two occasions.
Torres, who suffered a torn ACL in the 2013 preseason that required surgery and limited him to just 12 regular season and playoff games, had a cleanup procedure in the problematic knee after the playoffs.
It became infected once, was treated and cleared up, but then returned.
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The six-foot, 215-pounder is essentially back to square one, and will need to have the ACL repaired all over again. According to a team-issued statement, Torres recently had surgery to remove the infected graft in Toronto.
"The procedure involved removing the graft previously implanted in his repaired knee in September 2013,” Wilson said. "Raffi has started a rehabilitation phase, but will need to repeat the surgical procedure to repair the ACL damage suffered on Sept. 20, 2013.
"We expect Raffi to return to the team during the 2014-15 season but no official timeline for his return is being set at this time."
In his previous surgery, Torres’ knee was fixed using parts from a cadaver. His next surgery will be done using his own tissue, according to Wilson.
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The 32-year-old was hurt last preseason when he collided with Anaheim’s Emerson Etem during a preseason game. He also has a history of right knee problems, and it's fair to wonder how effective he will be once he returns.
While playing for Edmonton, Torres suffered the same injury in a game on Dec. 15, 2007, and missed the rest of the season. He had a setback after that original surgery, too, not returning until nearly 11 months later on Nov. 1, 2008, after moving on to Columbus that offseason.
Torres will be in the second of a three-year, $6 million contract with San Jose.
