2011-12 Biggest Letdown

[NJDevils17]

Unfortunately, with the major decrease in fights this season, there were bound to be many nominees for this award. Some guys struggled to get into the line-up, and when some of these guys did make it into the line-up, they never seemed to drop the gloves.

Nominees

Jody Shelley - Philadelphia Flyers
While Philly was once again towards the top of the league in fights, Shelley didn't contribute a whole heck of a lot to that total. He only had 6 fights this year in 30 games. Not terrible if you were to average that out over an 82 game season, but fight fans expected more from him. Also, Shelley didn't fair particularly well in his fights either, winning only 2 of his 6. Perhaps this season showed that maybe this is the end for Shelley, who turned 36 during the year.

Paul Bissonnette - Phoenix Coyotes
A man who has become very popular on Twitter, is starting to become a little less popular with the fight fans. Bissonnette played in 31 games this season and only racked up 7 fighting majors. His record wasn't anything to write home about either, picking up only 1 win. Bissonnette really seemed to struggle getting into the line-up this season, and was just too inconsistent when he did play.

Steve MacIntyre - Pittsburgh Penguins
The man they call Big Mac definitely did not have a good season. You can make the case to say he had one of the worst seasons ever for a tough guy. While MacIntyre only played in 12 games, he did not get into a single fight. Sure, he would issue some challenges, but no one was stupid enough to fight him for no reason. This lack of fighting was one of the factors into him getting sent down to the AHL for most of the season. Even down there, sans that one crazy game where he went bananas, he was pretty quiet.

Kyle Clifford - Los Angeles Kings
You could say this season was a sophomore slump for Clifford, in both offensive production and in fisticuffs. After a great rookie season where he was fighting often and doing well, he just didn't fight as much. The quality of fights declined and his record suffered as well. He just didn't seem like the same fighter after getting dropped by Sheldon Brookbank at the end of last season. For Clifford's sake, we hope he returns next season with a bang and finds himself as a Comeback Fighter nominee.

Matt Carkner - Ottawa Senators
This was a very easy selection to make if you had asked me to pick a fighter up for this award before the playoffs started. After his episode with Brian Boyle, I hesitated to put him on here, but this award is for the regular season. Anyway, after starting the season injured and spending some time in the AHL, Carkner was only able to post 3 fights this season. The other worrying part was that, with the exception of his fight with Milan Lucic, his other 2 fights weren't with guys who are on or close to his fighting level. However, given what has transpired in the playoffs and that Carkner has been a hero to many Senators fans and old school fighting fans in general, I wouldn't be too worried about his future.

Kevin Westgarth - Los Angeles Kings
Unfortunately for Kings fans, another one of their guys makes this list. Westgarth was plagued with injury towards the middle of the season which saw his last game played be in mid February. Still, he wasn't very busy at all in his 25 games this year. He only put up 3 fights, with 2 of them coming against fellow nominee Paul Bissonnette. After a busy rookie season, one would have expected Westgarth to continue where he left off. Unfortunately, he regressed pretty heavily and suffered a bad break with injuries.

My pick

Definitely a lot of "worthy" people this year who fell significantly short of expectations. For me, however, I have to go with Steve MacIntyre. The only reason he's in the NHL is because he is a devastating fighter. His other skills alone aren't enough to get him by to even stay up in the NHL, much less play in the NHL. For the other guys on this list, especially Clifford and Carkner, it can be argued that they bring something else to the table along with their fighting ability. MacIntyre just never forced the issue with anyone. I saw him challenge Cam Janssen to a fight earlier this season during a tie game with nothing going on. Janssen said no and just skated away, leaving MacIntyre with nothing to do. If you no one wants to fight you, you have to make them fight you. I never saw him throw his body around out there and force a guy like Janssen to come over and fight. That was my biggest problem with him this year, because in years past, MacIntyre would force guys to fight him because he would throw his weight around out there.

Previous winners

2003-04: Georges Laraque
2005-06: Wade Belak
2006-07: Todd Fedoruk
2007-08: Andrew Peters
2008-09: Andre Roy
2009-10: Georges Laraque
2010-11: D.J. King

[VodkaFish]

I know everyone wanted more out of Steve MacIntyre, but I don't see his season being a result of his actions (or inaction[s]).

[kmd19]

Lots of let downs this year. I'm going with Westgarth in a tight race with just about everyone else on thsi list. He was a beast in the minors and just can;t seem to pull it together in the Bigs. I expected more from him.

[kam]

Carkner all the way for me, I became a huge fan of his during last season and then nowhere this season. Not entirely his fault but still.

[DARCY T]

clifford...i guess he wont be the same as he was in his rookie season after concussion issues.

biz and westgarth very close behind him

[pesadillamal]

Carkner easily. And it was his fault which is what makes it easy. He looked like the guy the AHl fans called "the picker".

[fcm]

I don't know between Clifford, Westgarth and Bissonnette. They all deserve it.

[Killah_punk]

It's too bad we didn't see any of this from Big Mac in the NHL.

Steve MacIntyre vs Eric Neilson - Nov 12, 2011 ...

Steve MacIntyre fights whole team, will get 17...

[Walt]

Clifford took the biggest step back but it's important to remember he just turned 21. He may have "snuck up" on folks last year. He's got the right attitude but man he took a beating this year.

[slashtrey]

Not by his own fault, but not seeing MacIntyre scrap in the NHL this year was the biggest letdown for me.

[IhateLindros]

Carkner

[BullyFan]

I don't blame Mac for his disappointing year.

Westgarth had a lot of hype and didn't really impress.

[Whaler Fan]

Brendan Shanahan.

[BOSTONMASSACRE]

No mention of John Scott?
I'll go with Carkner, I think he might be having some fighting issues since Boogard passed away.
Just my opinion.
If that's the case respect to him, either way he had a great year last year and was absent this year.
Tough year for fighting in the NHL.

[fcm]

Originally Posted by BOSTONMASSACRE

No mention of John Scott?
I'll go with Carkner, I think he might be having some fighting issues since Boogard passed away.
Just my opinion.
If that's the case respect to him, either way he had a great year last year and was absent this year.
Tough year for fighting in the NHL.

I don't think he has any problems with the fact that he has beaten Boogaard up. If he had troubles with that, he wouldn't go after Adam Halls and Brian Boyles of this world.