Pair of Canucks have Beantown ties
Former Bruin Schaller and Northeastern grad Gaudette playing well heading into Boston
In a sports-crazed city that embraces its heroes, Tim Schaller and Adam Gaudette have close ties to the Boston area and a legion of admirers.
Schaller played for the Bruins last season and a lasting bond with his older brother Dave, who required a life-saving bone-marrow transplant from his younger sibling 10 years ago, spawned a charity to benefit cancer-stricken children. It’s why giant Timmy Heads will pop up on your television screen Thursday when the Vancouver Canucks visit TD Garden.
Gaudette played here at Northeastern University, which doesn’t get the recognition of rival Boston College or Boston University, and won the Hobey Baker Award last season as the top NCAA player and tossed out the first pitch at a Red Sox game in fabled Fenway Park.
It’s also a happy homecoming for Schaller and Gaudette because of what they’ve already accomplished this NHL season.
With a roster ravaged by injury and a coach willing to place his trust in improving forwards, Schaller has leaped from the fourth to first line and the rookie Gaudette has lapped up more minutes as his game grows. Neither has scored — Schaller had a dozen goals in 2017-18 — and this is the perfect place for both to pot their first.
Schaller chose the Canucks in free agency because he was with the Rochester Americans of the AHL at the time Canucks head coach Travis Green was coaching the Utica Comets. Schaller admired the approach and Green admired Schaller.
“It was always a battle and it’s a kind of game I want to play — hard-nosed and fast paced,” said Schaller, who signed a two-year, US$3.8 million contract July 1. “The way Travis coaches kind of fits my style of play.”
It’s why Schaller started the season a fourth-line fixture at left wing and why the gritty 27-year-old Merrimack, N.H., native was bumped up to the first line on Oct. 31 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
On Tuesday in Detroit, he was there again. Schaller had one scoring chance and fanned on another during a 3-2 shootout loss, but he also wasn’t on for a goal against. Schaller, Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen were often matched up against the trio of rookie Michael Rasmussen, Jacob de la Rose and Gustav Nyquist.
“He’s a good, heavy body and a smart player,” Green said of Schaller. “We’re trying touseBoabitinamatchup role with (Brandon) Sutter out and he’s the most capable of that. (Schaller’s) good at holding on to pucks down low and getting pucks on the wall and not just in his own zone.
“He’s strong on pucks in the offensive zone and part of it is he scored 12 goals last year and you’re hoping, with opportunity, that he creates. But it’s not just about that — a lot has to do with matchups.”
A lot of what makes Schaller tick has to do with the Jimmy Fund charity.
He was in his second season with the Buffalo Sabres in 2015-16 and nervous about a game in Boston. His brother wanted to lighten the mood and made photocopies of Schaller’s NHL mug shot.
“It was my first game in Boston and going out for warm-ups, I’m trying not to fall and make a fool of myself,” Schaller said. “I look at the glass and there are 12 big Timmy heads and my brother and my buddies were banging on the glass.”
Schaller’s brother received requests for the likeness and giant 3 1/2-foot Timmy heads popped up around the NHL. The demand led to a website, tim-schaller.com, to sell Timmyheads and Timmyheads T-shirts to benefit The Jimmy Fund charity for cancer care.
That story is hard to match, but Gaudette’s determination to crack the roster — even before Jay Beagle suffered a forearm fracture Oct. 13 — wasn’t lost on Green.
He liked how the 22-yearold Braintree, Mass., native kept working at every aspect of his game. He had an assist, two shot attempts, four hits and won three of six draws Tuesday in 12:32 of ice time.
“He’s in the right spot, he’s working hard and there are a couple of little things in his game that we hope he picks up on,” said Green. “But he’s doing a lot of good things. He gives you everything he has, which as a coach goes a long way.”
Gaudette admits he’s a work in progress, but he’s willing put in the work.
“It definitely hasn’t been easy — it’s been tough,” admitted Gaudette, who has two assists in his first 15 NHL games. “But the best way for me to learn is to be thrown right into the fire and figuring it out for myself and I’ve done that at every level.
“That’s what’s happening here. It forces you to be sharper and more attentive and feeling better every game.”