Mike Stechschulte
Mike's passion at such a young age then translated to high school hockey, where Mike earned four Varsity letters as a goaltender, along with an MVP and All-Conference Award his senior season. Now a regular contributor to Sports Grumblings, Mike's work has appeared on multiple websites, including Sporting News. Mike is currently attending the University of Michigan-Flint, and is working toward a dual-degree in Communications and Political Science.
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Roy was supposed to be good...
Your weekly helping of Treasure Hunting, coupled this week by another edition of everyone’s favorite segment, The Over/Under!
“The Over/Under” highlights overachievers and underachievers in the world of fantasy hockey. The stat lines are for the player’s last month of competition.
The Over
RW- Glen Murray (9 goals, 4 assists, +7, 12 PIMs, 3 PPGs, 39 shots)
After a horrendous start to the season that saw Murray net just one goal in the Bruins’ first 17 games, old reliable has started producing again. We were all ready to start writing him off as old and washed up, but since then Murray has put together an impressive streak that has included two four-game point streaks. With Boston surging this season, Murray knows he has to be the veteran leadership on a relatively young team, and it appears he is doing just that.
C- Derek Roy (7 goals, 8 assists, +15, 8 PIMs, 3 PPGs, 2 SHGs, 2 GWGs, 35 shots, 128 faceoff wins)
When Chris Drury and Daniel Briere left town, Roy was supposed to be good in their absence. But he wasn’t supposed to be this good. Roy put together one of the best all-around months of any player over the past 30 days, potting three power-play goals along with two shorthanded tallies and two game-winners. Roy is proving he can handle the No. 1 center job in Buffalo very nicely and is developing into a star player in his own right.
LW- Aaron Voros (6 goals, 3 assists, +4, 44 PIMs, 1 GWG, 25 shots)
Aaron who? Has anyone even heard of this guy before today? The Vancouver, B.C., native was drafted in the eighth round (229th overall) by the New Jersey Devils back in 2001, and made it onto the Wild roster this season primarily as an enforcer. Voros has collected six major penalties in his month-and-a-half stay with Minnesota, but perhaps more important to note are the 6 goals and 3 assists. It looks as though the Wild may have found themselves a goon with hands.
D- Dennis Wideman (2 goals, 8 assists, +7, 16 PIMs, 1 PPG, 1 GWG, 27 shots)
Other than the fact that Brad Boyes has 18 goals and 9 assists this year, it would appear that the Boyes-for-Wideman trade is finally paying some dividends for Boston. Many questioned bringing in a second-tier defenceman for a budding star like Boyes, but Wideman has proven he knows what he’s doing running a power play. If it wasn’t that Boyes was scoring up a storm in St. Louis, Boston fans might have forgotten about the trade already.
D- Mike Green (5 goals, 2 assists, +1, 20 PIMs, 2 PPGs, 1 GWG, 33 shots)
Green didn’t have a spectacular month for the last-place Washington Capitals, but he makes this list because he really wasn’t expected to do anything at all, and hey, here at Treasure Hunting, we don’t discriminate based on superstar status. Green’s five goals the past month were more than any other defenceman in the league except for Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien (who also had five). Byfuglien barely misses out making the list based on his -3 rating.
G- Ilya Bryzgalov (6-5-0, .920 SV%, 2.56 GAA, 1 shutout)
It was extremely hard not to pick Detroit’s red-hot Chris Osgood (14-1-1) for this spot, but when you consider that Bryzgalov was a backup for another team a month ago and that he now plays for the worst statistical team in the NHL, we couldn’t say no. Bryzgalov and Osgood both had the same number of wins (6) and shutouts (1) the past month, but Bryzgalov’s lack of support was what won us over.
The Under
RW- Jaromir Jagr (3 goals, 2 assists, -5, 6 PIMs, 1 PPG, 1 GWG, 31 shots)
It’s the Jagr of old, and thus, it’s the Rangers of old. The enigmatic winger is still arguably the best player in the game, but he’s got to start playing harder. New York sports commentators have been all over Jagr’s lack of effort for years, and the boo-birds have come out again at Madison Square Garden. This was supposed to be the Rangers’ year for a shot at the Stanley Cup, but it looks again like too many superstars on the roster are causing team work ethic issues.
C- Eric Staal (3 goals, 3 assists, -4, 6 PIMs, 2 PPGs, 1 GWG, 31 shots, 117 faceoff wins)
After a relatively hot start, Staal has cooled off considerably for the Hurricanes. Although still with 15 goals and 12 assists on the year, Staal has twice gone three or more games without a point in the past month. The smart money has the talented center snapping out of it soon, but until he does, he gets the doghouse designation here on Treasure Hunting. In the meantime, Carolina goaltender Cam Ward has a lot of extra work to do.
LW- Alexander Semin (2 goals, 2 assists, -6, 10 PIMs, 23 shots)
Things were looking considerably better for the hockey landscape in Washington before the season started. The Capitals had arguably the most exciting and talented young player in the game in Alex Ovechkin leading the way, and he was expected to be flanked by lots more young talent that would include Semin and rookies Niklas Backstrom and Tomas Fleishmann. So far this season, Ovechkin has done his job, but Semin, a 38-goal scorer last year, has not done much since returning from injury.
D- Matt Carle (0 goals, 0 assists, -1, 2 PIMs, 6 shots)
It’s hard to understand why the former Hobey Baker Trophy winner (best collegiate player in the US) is struggling as much as he is, especially when he plays on a team like the Sharks. Then again, a lot of San Jose’s top guns have struggled a bit this year, perhaps going through some growing pains. Carle is still a very talented young blueliner who must be allowed to mature, but there’s no telling how long it will take for him to return to the glimpses of brilliance fans saw in his first two NHL seasons.
D- Jay Bouwmeester (1 goal, 1 assist, -2, 8 PIMs, 1 PPG, 22 shots)
The Florida Panthers are starting to look like the NFL’s Detroit Lions – that is, years of high draft picks have piled up and the team still has nothing to show for it. The only player really worth mentioning on the Florida roster right now, captain Olli Jokinen, isn’t even a Panther draft pick. Bouwmeester, drafted 3rd overall in 2002 to be the club’s franchise defenceman, hasn’t lived up to the billing so far in his NHL career, and this season is no exception. Just 3 goals and 5 assists through the first two and a half months of the season just won’t cut it.
G- Martin Biron (3-3-1, .900 SV%, 3.71 GAA, 0 shutouts)
It’s not necessarily fair to put Biron on this list with a .500 record and a save percentage that’s in the 90s (albeit barely), but there really weren’t any other prominent netminders struggling any worse this month. Biron’s Flyers are easily the most improved team from last year, so much so that they could even now be considered the favorites to win the Atlantic Division. Last month was a little turbulent for Philadelphia and Biron, but this mini-slump is nothing they can’t snap.
Here’s how last week’s picks turned out:
LW- Jan Hlavac, TB: 0 goals, 0 assists, -5, 8 shots
C- Phil Kessel, BOS: 0 goals, 2 assists, +2, 7 shots, 17 faceoff wins
RW- J.P. Dumont, NSH: 0 goals, 0 assists, -2, 6 shots
D- Jaroslav Spacek, BUF: 1 goal, 0 assists, +3, 2 PIMs, 1 PPG, 7 shots
G- Jean-Sebastien Giguere, ANA: 1-2-0, .859 SV% (55 saves on 64 shots), 3.69 GAA (9 goals in 2.3 games), 0 shutouts
Here are the picks for this week:
LW- Christopher Higgins, MTL
C- Patrick O’Sullivan, LA
RW- Patrick Eaves, OTT
D- Joni Pitkanen, EDM
G- Marty Turco, DAL
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