Los Angeles Kings Win Is Very Bad For Raffi Torres

The Los Angeles Kings are going to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993, and that's very good for hockey fans in Southern California. (Well, half of them.) It's not good for those in Phoenix, though, and Raffi Torres has to find himself at the top of the list.

Torres was suspended in the Western Conference Semifinals for hit on Marian Hossa, and the suspension was a 25-gamer, one of the longest in NHL history. Fortunately for Torres, the suspension came at a time when players don't get paid, so for every game that ticked off the ban during these 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Torres got to keep his money.

Of course, Torres wanted his Coyotes to go as deep as they possibly could in the playoffs, but he wouldn't have necessarily hated a couple of seven-game series thrown in the mix, taking his suspension down to as few games as possible come next season (and thus saving him tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars).

Had Phoenix gone seven games in the Western Semifinals, the West Final and the Cup Final, Torres would have only sat one game next season, and he only would have most $21,341.46 as a result of the 25-game suspension. That's $853.66 per game.

Alas, that's not what happened. Torres still has 12 games left on his ban (plus any exhibition games Phoenix plays next season) and he'll forfeit $21,341.46 for each one of those regular season games.

There's still a chance that Torres wins his appeal to the NHL and the suspension is trimmed a bit, but that's not likely. Gary Bettman can be quite stubborn, so in total, Torres will give the NHL's Emergency Players' Assistance Fund $256,097.52 as a result of this hefty suspension.

The Coyotes might be frustrated that their season is over, but nobody is angrier than Raffi Torres.