FanHouse JodyShelley

Two NHL heavyweights threw down Wednesday night in St. Paul.

Minnesota's Derek Boogaard never shies away from a fight, and it's a rare day when Jody Shelley of San Jose does. The two got together for an entertaining scrum during the Wild's 3-2 overtime win.

Early in the fight, you could see something fly through the air after a Boogaard punch. Wild television analyst Mike Greenlay first thought Shelley had been bloodied. If you watch the end of this clip, however, it is pretty clear that Boogaard actually broke a chunk off Shelley's helmet.



Video courtesy of our friends at hockeyfights.com.

Thanks once again to our friend Dmitry Chesnokov of Sovetsky Sport for passing along yet another translation of an interview from the pages of his newspaper. Today, we have a conversation between Sovetsky's Bay Area correspondent, Mikhail Bykov and San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov. The following conversation took place immediately following last Thursday night's game between the Sharks and the Ducks in San Jose that the Sharks won, 2-0. Nabokov had the shutout.

Evgeni Nabokov (EN): "Anaheim is a very difficult opponent for us. We have a constant struggle with them. The second goal helped us a lot, after that we secured the victory."

Mikhail Bykov (MB): Before the game I was listening to a radio broadcast where hosts talked said they were expecting lots of fights. Do you and Anaheim players plan them well ahead?

Over at Hockeyfights.com, David Singer is touting this bout as a candidate for Fight of the Year. It's a throwdown between two heavyweights, Donald Brashear and Jody Shelley, that took place on Saturday night in San Jose. Though the voters have given this bout decisively to Brashear, the Sharks still went on to win the game, 7-2.

The San Jose Sharks continued to distance themselves from the rest of the National Hockey League on Monday night, as they beat Nashville, 4-1, to improve to 16-3-1 on the season. The Sharks have earned at least a point in 11 of their previous 12 games, as they now have an 11 point lead over second-place Anaheim in the Pacific Division.

Brian Boucher started in goal for the sixth consecutive game in place of the injured Evgeni Nabokov, stopping 32 of 33 shots for the win. San Jose received goals from Devin Setoguchi, Jody Shelley, Patrick Marleau, and Thomas Plihal, while David Legwand added a shorthanded goal for Nashville midway through the third period.

Setoguchi has 22 points in the Sharks first 20 games, while he's also filled the net four times in his previous four contests. As a team, the Sharks have a league-high 73 goals, seven more than second-place Detroit. Meanwhile, Boucher continued his solid play in net, as he's now 6-1-1 on the season, including 4-1-1 since taking over for Nabokov.

Perhaps the most newsworthy item from the game, aside from the Sharks continuing to systematically dismantle whatever team lines up across from them, was the fact Nashville's Jason Arnott had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher when he was knocked into Boucher during the first period. According to the AP game report, Arnott was taken to a local hospital and is being held for precautionary reasons.

Fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets were left in utter shock as their favorite goon, Jody Shelley, was unexpectedly dealt to the San Jose Sharks for a sixth round draft pick (aka 'nothing')

Shelley has spent his entire career, seven years, with the club from Ohio, and has a reputation as being a, sweet, warm, charitable guy who worked hard in the community.

So, why did the Jackets feel the need to suddenly deal away the guy with the girly first name? Jackets' fan John Arvai tries to answer as best as he can.

The bottom line though is that post lockout, the role of an enforcer has been drastically reduced and its impacted guys like Shelley. Prior the the NHL lockout Jody Shelley had 87 fights over 4 years. Post lockout he's had a total of 32 fights over 3 years. His role, and many roles like his, have been greatly diminished.

There just isn't enough room for guys whose primary talent is fisticuffs. You have to be able to play now in the league. You have to be able to roll 4 lines during the regular season and if you have an on ice liability like a Shelley, that really limits the flexibility in your lineup.

Translation: Shelley is a goon with little talent, and he doesn't actually help a hockey team win games. In 380 career games, Shelley has just 29 points and is -26 to go along with that. When Shelley is on the ice, the Jackets are basically giving the opposition a huge on-ice advantage.

Another question that I have is, "Why would the Sharks WANT Jody Shelley?" The Sharks are in the bottom third of league offense, and Shelley isn't going to help in that regard.

The only good explanation I can think of is that the Sharks look over at their southern neighbors, and want to compete with the Jones Ducks for punching the most faces. If the Ducks have goons, then, dammit, the Sharks need goons, too.

If the Columbus Blue Jackets were going to challenge for their first berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, Rick Nash was going to have to be a leader and a much better player than his 27 goals in 75 games last season. So far, so good: He scored his 12th goal in 18 games and added an assist in last night's win over Chicago; more importantly, he completed the Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a third-period fight with the Blackhawks' Jim Vandermeer.

Nash didn't have a fighting major last season, even though he's 6-4, 215 and can play a physical brand of hockey. He went after Vandermeer because he claimed the 'Hawks goon (304 career PIM in 206 games) was throwing cheap shots at his Jackets teammates. Michael Arace of The Columbus Dispatch had a great recap of the fights in the stands between fans and Nash's fight on the ice, including this review from notorious Columbus tough guy Jody Shelley:

"The other guy's a fighter, and an experienced one at that, and he plays dirty and gritty," Shelley said. "Rick Nash is a goal scorer, a first overall pick and a Rocket Richard Trophy winner, and he stands up and gives it to the other guy. That just goes above and beyond. That's character I can't even begin to describe."

If you want to truly be a leader in the NHL, if you want to earn that level of respect, you have to occasionally do what Rick Nash did last night. Messier did. Scott Stevens did. And we all know where those guys ended up. It was an important moment for a young player still finding himself in this League, and a vital one for his team. If Nash's actions, and Shelley's reaction, don't speak to what it is that makes hockey the greatest damn sport on the planet, I don't know what does.