LOS ANGELES _ First off, the injury news.

As we reported on CSNPhilly.com today, Kimmo Timonen has an aching left hip. He would tell us but that's what I am told. He did say his injury is not serious.

However, he gave himself a 50/50 chance of playing tomorrow against the Kings and when a player does that, I have to think he is OUT. Timonen wants to be around for the remainder of the trip with games against Anaheim and Detroit. I think he sits tomorrow to assure that.

Coach Peter Laviolette expects Kimmo to play.

Jody Shelley? He claimed in my questioning that he thought Andrew Alberts was coming at him to fight because his gloves were up.

I told Shelley the sucker punch and 2 game suspension was light given he just got over a 2-game suspension. He agreed it could have been worse under the NHL's math system or Colin Campbell Economics.

I disagree with Bill Meltzer and the fans on Shelley's worth. Shelley is a $1.1 million insurance policy that other teams don't take liberties with Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, etc - the skill guys.

Privately, a lot of Flyers tell me they don't look over their shoulder this season wondering about cheap shots because Shelley is around. He is a deterrent to others and that has a price. Yeah, it's high but isn't that worth some $$ to keep other teams honest?

I'm writing a piece on this for Sporting News which I will post Shelley's own comments when it appears.

Here's today's news from dreary, rainy LA:

Timonen: click here

Shelley: click here

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