He served as a general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Oakland Seals, New York Islanders, and Florida Panthers.

He lost his depth perception after he was hit in the left eye with a hockey stick, breaking his orbital bone.

[8] Torrey was named the general manager of the expansion New York Islanders on February 15, 1972, at a press conference held across the street from Roosevelt Raceway at a restaurant owned by Burt Bacharach.

[5] Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock approached Torrey, hoping to trade for Potvin.

Pollock's strategy was to offer a "quick-fix" package of mature players to exchange for the top draft pick, and it was tempting as the Islanders would immediately benefit from the trade.

In the 1977 NHL amateur draft, Torrey had the 15th pick and had to make a tough decision between two promising forwards, Mike Bossy and Dwight Foster.

Coach Al Arbour persuaded Torrey to pick Bossy, figuring it was easier to teach a scorer how to check.

Bossy immediately emerged as one of the league's elite snipers in his first season, in which he set a then-NHL record with 53 goals as a rookie.

[11] After helping minority owner John Pickett Jr. buy the franchise in 1979, Torrey was promoted to team president.

In 1980, after the Islanders had underachieved in the playoffs for the past few years despite success in the regular season, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings in return for Butch Goring.

Torrey built his new team similarly to the Islanders, acquiring young talent that included Rob Niedermayer, Ed Jovanovski, Radek Dvořák, and Rhett Warrener.