It’s more than likely a little too late at this point for Tim Schaller to make the NHL team out of camp with the Bruins after starting preseason out with a lower body injury.
But it was always going to be an uphill battle anyway for the hard-working New Hampshire native after signing with the Black and Gold following 35 games of NHL work with the Buffalo Sabres over the last couple of seasons.
The 25-year-old Merrimack, N.H., native missed the first handful of preseason games for Boston while nursing the injury, and only really started showing what he could in a bottom-6 role at the very tail end of camp.
“We’re all here for the same reason. You want to make the big club,” said Schaller, who had 12 goals and 26 points in 37 games for the Rochester Americans last season a couple of years removed from a standout career at Providence College. “Everything is going pretty smoothly minus the injury that I had for a bit there. I’ve played as well as I want to play, but you always do better.
“You feel a little rushed [when you get an early injury], but you have to be patient with it too. You just keep the same mindset for every practice and every game. It was a little setback at the beginning, but now I’m 100 percent.”
Schaller isn’t on the game roster for Saturday’s preseason finale against the Flyers, which is essentially a dress rehearsal for the regular season, and wasn’t skating with the regular group at practice on Friday morning at Warrior Ice Arena.
Still, it’s a bit of a dream come true to throw the Bruins sweater on for a New England that grew up a diehard B’s fan, and Schaller easily named Patrice Bergeron as his favorite player as a hockey-loving teenager in New Hampshire.
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“I grew up watching [the Bruins] year in and year out, so this is a dream come true,” said Schaller. “I’m fighting as hard as I can to stay up in Boston. As I got older I really started to like Bergeron a lot [as a player]. I haven’t told him that yet, but maybe I’ll whisper it to him one of these days. I try to pattern my game after him, and there’s no better guy to do that with than him.”
Schaller will undoubtedly be headed to AHL camp with the P-Bruins at the start of next week barring any crazy roster developments, but perhaps he’ll get a chance to play alongside No. 37 at some point this season should the circumstances dictate it.