TURNAROUND FOR SCHALLER
New Canuck finds his way
Tim Schaller looked lost in the pre-season.
A new city and new systems played into it to a degree, but the free-agent acquisition was rightfully scratched the first two regular-season games.
It was like everything the Vancouver Canucks winger was supposed to bring — feisty forechecking, hitting and a penalty-kill presence — had vanished. He went pointless in five exhibition games and you never noticed him.
He was a step behind the play and hesitant and far from the guy who was on the Canucks’ radar last season as a pending unrestricted free agent.
“It was definitely a rough time in the pre-season, but luckily there’s always another game and I showed what I can do,” said the 27-year-old Schaller, who signed a two-year, US$3.8 million contract on July 1.
Schaller is now playing as advertised. He has helped prop up a penalty kill that was ranked 21st last season and is now eighth, with six perfect nights in the first eight games. He also set up two goals in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, is tied for third among club forwards in hits and is a key component on a fourth line — with Markus Granlund and Tyler Motte — that doesn’t get enough credit.
“We talk about being hard to play against and that line has been and is using tenacity and winning puck battles and things that go unnoticed,” said Canucks coach Travis Green, who knew of Schaller when the player was in Rochester and the bench boss was at the helm in Utica.
“He is more comfortable and has found a niche and is playing the game we envisioned.”
That game included two takeaways Saturday — his line combined for four — during 12:14 of ice time in a 2-1 overtime win over Boston. It included 2:32 on the penalty kill, a critical contribution with Jay Beagle on injured reserve with a fractured forearm.
Schaller had a dozen goals with the Bruins last season — including three short-handed efforts with the league’s third-ranked PK — and the Canucks would do back-flips if he could hit double digits here.
A year ago in Boston, Schaller challenged Erik Gudbranson to a fight after the Canucks defenceman drew a boarding major for running Frank Vatrano. And in the return meeting here in February, Schaller scored the lone Bruins goal in a lopsided loss.
“I like his game a lot,” Gudbranson said. “Our fourth line has been there in the tough times and has put in a shift that really turned a game around. And that’s not an easy job to do.”
Especially with the kind of game a fourth line needs to play. It’s about frustrating and forechecking without taking penalties or being scored upon and chipping in with the odd goal. It means being quick enough and focused.
“I know it’s cliché, but we’re keeping it simple,” Schaller said.
“The three of us are pretty predictable and we know where each other is. It’s strong outs of the D zone. Simple hockey, but effective.”
Schaller was surrounded by Boston media following the game-day skate Saturday because his story goes beyond finding an on-ice fit.
One constant for the Merrimack, N.H., native is daily deliberations with his older brother. Dave Schaller, 29, was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 17 and two years later, required a life-saving bone-marrow transplant from his younger sibling ’s upper hip.
“I talk every day to him — I can’t remember the last time I didn’t,” Schaller said. “He has been my best friend from Day 1 and for us to go
through something like that was quite the experience. They (doctors) pretty much had him living on machines and it was a scary moment because he didn’t have much time.”
Dave was in college and went home during the Christmas break, but was feeling fatigued. He went to the doctor the next day and was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a disorder that caused his body to stop producing blood and bone marrow. The only hope was a transplant.
“They put him in a vacuum-safe room right away and we couldn’t even touch him,” added Schaller, who was 17 at the time and playing junior hockey in Massachusetts.
“I wasn’t the exact match for the transplant (only 25 per cent) but we did the procedure.
“They bought pints of blood to his room hour after hour and kept checking his vitals and slowly his blood cells started reproducing. Eventually he was strong enough to go home.
“He lives every day to the fullest and always has a smile on his face. If I’m having a bad day here, I can always give him a call and even if he’s at work, he’ll stop to cheer me up.”