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Brad Staubitz provides some things the San Jose Sharks have lacked in years past: Energy, physicality, intensity, and occasional scoring from the fourth line.
If only this man had half the brainpower of a tooth pick, he would be the perfect bottom-six forward.
Unfortunately this is not the case...yet.
25-year-old enforcer Brad Stubitz was born in Edmonton, Alberta.
He is 6 foot 1, 215 pounds, and he knows how to use every inch and pound he has.
Staubitz had been in the minors for most of his young career, working his way up to the show. A converted defenseman, Staubitz was called up from the San Jose Sharks' AHL affiliate, Worcester Sharks in the middle of the 2008-09 season.
He played in 35 games, tallying one goal, two assists, and piled up 76 penalty minutes.
His first NHL goal came in his hometown against the Edmonton Oilers.
Since Staubitz's days with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL in 2001, all the way to his current tenure with the Sharks, Staubitz has sat in the penalty box for 1,406 minutes.
This has all occured in 514 games since 2001.
Since his stint with San Jose last season, Staubitz has been known to take bad penalties at bad times.
Although No. 59 frequently cost his team with these mental mistakes, he temporarily made up for it and endeared himself to Sharks fans when he bloodied-up Nashville's resident tough-guy in a fight at home against the Predators.
All of Staubitz's mistakes from the past were forgiven, and he actually played some pretty good hockey after that fight.
But time has gone on, and the fourth-liner has already fallen off the wagon a few times this season.
Staubitz has played in 10 of the Sharks' 17 games this season.
He has put together two goals and 32 penalty minutes.
His most recent penalty not only earned the forward 17 minutes in the sin bin, but also a game in the press box the following night to boot.
In team teal's shootout win against Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night, "Stauby" earned a five minute major for fighting Jared Boll.
The native of Edmonton, Alberta was tagged with an extra two minutes and a ten-minute misconduct for instigating the fight.
With San Jose shorthanded, captain and veteran defenseman Rob Blake went down with an injury on the resulting penalty kill. Blake's vague upper-body injury has him sidelined for a week.
This sequence of events by Staubitz shows how much the young grinder still has to learn. The 25-year-old picked the fight in retaliation to a hit one of his teammates took earlier in the game.
To add insult to injury, no pun intended, Staubitz took this penalty after the Sharks recently took a 2-1 lead. On the Columbus powerplay, San Jose lost not just their captain, but their lead as well.
It is situations like these where Staubitz needs to watch teammate Jody Shelley and how he conducts himself on the ice. Shelley is one of the premier enforcers in the game, and he understands how to pick his battles.
When the Sharks are behind on the scoreboard and are in need of a spark, No. 45 will drop the gloves.
When San Jose has the lead, Shelley knows to walk away so that he doesn't cost his team a penalty or momentum.
In my opinion, Staubitz has a lot of game and can be a very effective and productive bottom-six forward for the Sharks.
He provides a lot of grit, energy, "sand-paper" affect, and secondary scoring to a San Jose team that has lacked these traits until this season.
We have seen Staubitz grind it out, do the dirty work, and be a positive influence for the Bay Area's hockey team.
However, Staubitz's inability to recognize the situation of Wednesday night's game has thinned out his team's defense and added to a team that already has several key players on the shelf. This list includes forwards Joe Pavelski, Torrey Mitchell, Devin Setoguchi, Ryan Vesce, and now defenseman Rob Blake.
San Jose's depth is being tested early on, and low-IQ plays like the one by Staubitz are hurting, not helping the cause.
They faired pretty well in Thursday night's game against the Detroit Red Wings, who are heating up.
But in a shootout, the Sharks fell 2-1 in a heart breaker at Joe Louis Arena.
Staubitz has what it takes to be a mainstay and a solid player on the San Jose Sharks' roster.
But he needs to learn his craft first.
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