Walman is the Sharks player who I think broke out the most year over year. He has really taken the opportunity presented to him and ran with it. 9th in D scoring across the league (eclipsed his point total from all of last season in only 27 games) and is a +6 on a not very good Sharks team while playing almost 23 minutes a night in all situations.
It's the weirdest one because Walman was listed on threads like this as a Red Wing, when he unexpectedly was excellent for them after St. Louis gave up on him. And then to the surprise of everyone around the league the Red Wings paid to get rid of him. Apparently he did have a rough few months last Spring but nonetheless it was a strange turn of events. And here he is again on these lists, having an even better (much better) season.
He's a fun player to watch live at the arena. 6ft5 and to see him skate the blue line or backwards at that speed. He executes the techniques very well. Beauty in simplicity. Just a player in the show. Miss him in MTL.
Kovacevic is another one that's almost like Walman to me.
When he came up in Winnipeg he looked good and people said good things about him. But in the numbers game they chose to waive him. Then in Montreal he looked even better, but in the numbers game they thought he was the one to give up. And now in New Jersey he looks better than any D on the Habs. Are D-men that weird or are teams just bad at this?