2008-09 Most Improved/Comeback Fighter

[NJDevils17]

Could Arron Asham get recognition in this category too? He more than doubled his career high in fights this season (8 to 17).

[caps87]

for me it was between belak, boulton, and rupp. i went with boulton, he worked his way into my top 10 this year and before this year, i always considered him an awful fighter. belaks always been good, just not as good as he was this year, but to me, boulton improved more

[zoli]

Mike Rupp came from nowhere and immediately made a huge impact. Belak, Jannsen or Boulton were great too but imo they had a pretty good 07-08 campaign. Rupp was not that great so his improvement was the biggest imo.

[Merlin401]

Originally Posted by nyislesfan45

Without a doubt, you are correct. He got beat up by.....everyone before this season and he turned himself into a solid middle.


Merlin, you do a great job with these but is there any reason why Jackman isn't up there?

I dont' watch every Islanders games but I didn't notice any major improvement over past years by the numbers. Last year he played 36 games, getting into 9 fights with a record IMO of 2-3-4 including a win over Tim Gleason who is no slouch. I never saw him as a punching bag, just a tad boring. This year he gets into 69 games and manages 19 fights (similar fights/game ratio) and a record by my count of 5-4-10 with his best opponent that he beat being Chris Thorburn. I just see him as the same average middleweight. Very few (if any) memorable fights. Can beat some scrubs or fellow mediocre middleweights, can step up and lost to or tie up some light heavyweights if necessary. I just dont see his 08-09 season being much different than what i saw out of him in 07-08.

[devils29]

Belak gets this one. Boulton gets a HM.

[bobberino]

WAAAADE BEEEELAK, besides the obvious KO he had a great year with some solid wins also... Did he actually lose a fight this year?

HM. Close call
Boulton, seemed to come out of nowhere and had a strong year highlighted by the FOTY (IMO) vs Orr and edged him

[TheShaneTrain]

Originally Posted by NJDevils17

Could Arron Asham get recognition in this category too? He more than doubled his career high in fights this season (8 to 17).

God, please forgive me for not only quoting a devil's fan, but thanking him as well. In all seriousness, Asham should at least get a mention in this category, althought i think this one goes to either Belak or Rupp.

[Merlin401]

Originally Posted by TheShaneTrain

God, please forgive me for not only quoting a devil's fan, but thanking him as well. In all seriousness, Asham should at least get a mention in this category, althought i think this one goes to either Belak or Rupp.

RE Asham: Asham has always been acknowledged to be one of, if not the, best middleweight fighter in the league. Granted he fought more this year than in recent seasons, but I dont see how that makes him really improved. He's still a great middleweight fighter who had a particularly great year.

[Shockadelica]

Doesn't Stortini deserve to be on here? He had a helluva good season. He went from huggy bear to having some memorable battles and wins against some respectable heavies.

[Rebel Banker]

I am surprised he didn't get a nomination.
Nice comeback year with wins over janssen, bieksa, and a few others.

[nyislesfan45]

Originally Posted by Merlin401

I dont' watch every Islanders games but I didn't notice any major improvement over past years by the numbers. Last year he played 36 games, getting into 9 fights with a record IMO of 2-3-4 including a win over Tim Gleason who is no slouch. I never saw him as a punching bag, just a tad boring. This year he gets into 69 games and manages 19 fights (similar fights/game ratio) and a record by my count of 5-4-10 with his best opponent that he beat being Chris Thorburn. I just see him as the same average middleweight. Very few (if any) memorable fights. Can beat some scrubs or fellow mediocre middleweights, can step up and lost to or tie up some light heavyweights if necessary. I just dont see his 08-09 season being much different than what i saw out of him in 07-08.

DYG has his at 8-5-6 (the Thornton fight was a draw, so it would be 8-4-7) for this years regular season and 3-3-3 for the year before. His best fight was with Greg Stewart. Only 3 decisive losses (2x with Asham and 1x with Salvador). Difference of opinions, I just thought he deserved a nod on this one.

[The NJ Devil]

Originally Posted by skacore

I think Matt Walker had a great year playing most regular season and all of playoffs, whereas he was always sort of a part-time player on St. Louis. He's really established himself as Chicago's heavyweight enforcer and had a great year.

Well said.I went homer here.Even though I dislike Rupp,he held his own this year.I expected him to lose more and worse than he did.It was just a matter of time that Orr nearly sent his head over the safety net.Rupp has improved tremendously for his standards,but has a long way to go IMO.Keep it up Mike!

[NJDevils17]

Originally Posted by Merlin401

RE Asham: Asham has always been acknowledged to be one of, if not the, best middleweight fighter in the league. Granted he fought more this year than in recent seasons, but I dont see how that makes him really improved. He's still a great middleweight fighter who had a particularly great year.

I don't disagree with the fact that he's always been a good fighter. The only thing is, everyone on here has always wanted him to fight more because he was both good and exciting and this year he seemed to answer us.

[Merlin401]

Originally Posted by NJDevils17

I don't disagree with the fact that he's always been a good fighter. The only thing is, everyone on here has always wanted him to fight more because he was both good and exciting and this year he seemed to answer us.

Fair points... I think it was the norm though for activity to be up (since fighting numbers were up across the board). I think he could have easily had a nomination (as with Jackman and Stortini). But IMO they all could have replaced one of the lesser candidates here but they didn't give me the "wow, where did that come from?!?" feeling like some of the top nominees here. But fair points all around.

[zkrisp]

I'm going with Cam Janssen because of the fights i've seen of him this year, compared to last year they were realllly improved.