Devastated!

San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the team has acquired a conditional sixth round selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft from the New York Rangers in exchange for RW Jody Shelley.

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Jody Shelley has been one of my very favorite Sharks players ever since he was brought over from Columbus. He was always willing to drop the gloves and fight to stick up for his teammates. His hits were pretty crushing. But more than that, he was a huge character guy. He's the only guy on the team who seemed to have a sense of humor...at least an open sense of humor. He was a very nice guy and always a class act. He represented this organization well. And now the Sharks ship him off for practically nothing to save a little cap space because they brought in a defenseman this week who doesn't actually improve our team, but had a bigger cap number than we could fit in.

Sigh, I know in my head it was the right move. Other than his fighting, he didn't really provide much on the ice to this team. But there has to be something said for loyalty to the good guys of the organization, right? I mean, his contract is up at the end of the year anyways. And it's not like we were going to resign him.

Thank you for your service to the Sharks, Jody! You are a class act and will be missed!