The NHL handed out one of its longest suspensions for on-ice conduct in league history by banning San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres 41 games for an illegal hit to the head of Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg.

Torres is one of the worst head-shot offenders in recent years, since the Department of Player Safety began cracking down on them.

It's the fifth suspension for Torres. He has also been fined three times and warned twice in 703 games, according to director of player safety Patrick Burke, who narrated the suspension video.

Torres had already been suspended for hits to the head of Jordan Eberle (April 2011), Nate Prosser (December 2011), Marian Hossa (April 2012) and Jarret Stoll (2013).

Silfverberg was his latest victim when Torres lined up the Swede during Saturday night's pre-season game and drove his left shoulder upwards into his head. Silfverberg left for precautionary reasons but was considered OK.

Torres was almost a full second late on the hit after Silfverberg was stripped of the puck. He will forfeit US$440,860.29 in salary as a result of the suspension.

This suspension is 11 games longer than the one given to Chris Simon in 2007 for stomping on the ankle of Jarkko Ruutu.

Torres's previous high was 25 games for the hit on Hossa in the 2012 playoffs.

Marty McSorley was banned for a year in 2000 and wound up serving 23 games for his stick to the head of Donald Brashear, while Todd Bertuzzi served 20 games for attacking Steve Moore from behind in 2004.

Torres's suspension flies in the face of a positive trend for the NHL. Suspensions were down 49 per cent last season from 2011-12, the first year Brendan Shanahan was in charge of the Department of Player Safety. That department is now headed by Stephane Quintal.

"The players are getting it," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last week in his New York office. "We're paying attention to this."

Torres is more the exception than the rule when it comes to NHL discipline. Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly credit the league's rookie symposium along with educational and other videos for the progress.

"You can take a look at a game today and compare it to a game that was played five years ago and you'd see a night and day difference in terms of just the safeness of the environment out on the ice," Daly said by phone recently. "I think it's a safer game today than it was five years ago."

Injuries and suspensions are down, which makes Torres's infraction stand out even more.

Technically he was not considered a repeat offender because he hadn't been fined or suspended within the past 18 months. Torres played in only 15 games since being suspended for hitting Stoll.