You know who I mean. Jody Shelley. To me, he’s an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a toothless visage. Ok, not entirely toothless. As some might know, I made an over-under bet with grier on how many points Shelley would get for the Sharks this year. When he joined the Sharks, he was averaging less than one point per 10 games. We set the over-under at 5, and I cunningly took the under. Needless to say, I lost two weeks ago, after only 23 games. I mention this now because he got yet another point last night in the win over the Kings, assisting on Curtis Brown’s goal. Speaking of Curtis Brown, he’s suddenly turned into a sharpshooter. Each of his goals in the last three games had eyes for the corners.

But I digress. We were talking about Shelley. Last night he got into a scrap against Raitis Ivanans, his sixth as a Shark. As the popular vote at the be-all-end-all hockey fight site indicates, he’s won none of them (0-2-4). In the case of the fight against the Boogeyman, he lost badly. Frankly, he hasn’t looked good in any of the tilts. I’m not sure if it’s a strategic move, but it appears that after the initial fist-full-of-jersey jab thing most fighters do these days, Shelley seems to wait. And wait. Maybe he’s hoping for the other guy to get tired and let his guard down. But what tends to happen is the guy throws a barrage of punches, most of which don’t do any damage, and then ties up Shelley and falls down, ending the fight. As someone who’s never actually thrown punches during a hockey fight before (although I have dropped the gloves) I’m not exactly qualified to give advice here. But maybe it’s time for Shelley to lean on the guy a bit more, and punch earlier in the bout. Just a suggestion. I know I’m digressing again, but why doesn’t anyone throw body shots? Kidney punches could be deadly, and shoulder pads don’t usually cover that area too well. Even a hard punch to the stomach could do some damage through the pads.  I’m not sure if there are Rules in The Code about such things.

Besides his unfortunate results as a pugilist for the Sharks, I’d still rate Mr. Shelley (after my critique of his fights, he’s Mr. Shelley now) as a must-have in the postseason lineup. He still throws his body around with complete disregard to his own safety (and that of others as well). As Ron Wilson has said, “he’s a better hockey player” than Scott Parker. In an age of hockey where the tough guys tend to ride the pine during the postseason, take this as a call to the Sharks to keep Mr. Shelley around. Lord knows how the cap situation will pan out this offseason, but if it’s possible, I would want to see him again in Teal for the 08-09 season.