Buffalo Sabres forward Tim Schaller is looking to throw a monkey wrench into the 2015-16 Buffalo Sabres roster. Not out of malice or by design, mind you, rather it's a simple case of a hard-working player setting his goal for the upcoming season.
"My mindset going into camp," he told Kevin Sylvester and Andrew Peters of Hockey Hotline on Thursday, "is that there's a spot there for me to lose. I'm going in to make the [Sabres] and I'm not going to be satisfied if I don't make it. That's where my mind's at."
Schaller's coming off of a very strong 2014-15 AHL campaign where he finished with 43 points (15+28) in 65 games in his second pro season. The 6'2" 206 lb. Merimack, NH native also played 18 games for the train wreck that was the Buffalo Sabres last season and recorded his first NHL goal at Boston with his parents in attendance.
Even though the numbers aren't awe-inspiring, "let's not sleep on Schaller," is what Kris Baker of sabresprospects/sabres.com had to say about him after Schaller was re-upped by GM Tim Murray.
Schaller is a very level-headed individual who's road to the NHL has been beset by
numerous obstacles both on and off the ice. Shoulder surgery kept him off the ice prior to his rookie campaign for Rochester putting him behind the curve for the 2013-14 season, but he came on strong using a level-headedness that has served him well through his first two years as a pro. He's a very coachable player who took to heart what Amerks assistant coach Chris Taylor laid out for him--a role as an bottom-six, defensive specialist in the NHL. "This is your role," Taylor told Schaller, "deal with it. It's going to be your role for the rest of your career. Get used to it and be the best at your role." It's advice that Schaller took to heart.
"In my two years in Rochester, I've really found what's going to work for me to make it to the next level," Schaller told the Hotline Thursday. "For me it all starts in the defensive end. I'll be the third and fourth-line centerman out there and the biggest thing for those [types] of guys is a.) not to get scored on and b.) have a lot of energy and wear down a team's top-line or whatever line it may be.
"It starts in the defensive end and with that, the goals will come."
Last year's 15 goals put him in a top-six role in Rochester and should he stay there, he could be centering a big second scoring line featuring William Carrier and one of either Nicolas Baptiste or Justin Bailey, two home-grown wingers entering their first pro season. Or Schaller could earn a spot as a fourth-line center on the Sabres roster. Should it be the latter, there could be a residual affect on Sam Reinhart, the 2014 second-overall pick.
Officially re-signing with the club last week was forward Johan Larsson. After fits and starts to his NHL career Larsson was called up for good and stuck with the Sabres from the trade deadline through the rest of the 2014-15 season. His move up from bottom-six to top-line and his production (five goals and eight assists in 19 games) is something that caught the eye of new head coach Dan Bylsma. "Larsson is a guy who in the last 30 games, [after] I'd talked to a couple of coaches, is tough to play against," he told Sportsnet's Hockey Central (via Elliot Friedman's
30 Thoughts.) "He was a gritty player, played a hard game and they had to watch [him] when he was on the ice and take note of him."
With attributes as such, and with his solid production while on a lousy team playing a role that was at least one, but probably two notches above is ideal spot, Larsson earned a spot as a top-nine forward on the team.
After Schaller was signed,
here was a rough layout of what the forward ranks might look like with him in the AHL:
Evander Kane, Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly
Matt Moulson, Zemgus Girgensons, Tyler Ennis
Jamie McGinn, Sam Reinhart, Brian Gionta
Marcus Foligno, Johan Larsson, Nic Deslauriers
David Legwand, Cody McCormick,
Should Schaller make the club, one of the bottom-six forwards gets pushed out and it may look something like this:
Kane, Eichel, O'Reilly
Moulson, Girgensons, Ennis
McGinn, Larsson, Gionta
Foligno, Schaller, Deslauriers
Legwand, McCormick
We've asked the question before,
where does Reinhart fit in this season?
Reinhart has done everything Murray asked of him and came into Sabres Development Camp ready to make an impression, which he did. Next step for him is to keep it going through a strong training camp and productive preseason--against men.
Again, it's not a matter of skill, it's a matter of development. Would Sam Reinhart be better served with some time in the minors as a top-line, all-situations centerman or would it be better for him to play a top-nine role, possibly on the wing, at the NHL-level?
Just something to chaw on this summer.
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