Observations:

December 2017 – Now at age 27, Schaller has carved out a bottom-six niche with the Bruins, particularly during the squad's current injury-filled campaign, semi-heavy on hits (44 in 27 games this year) with some faceoff wins (45) and 2:13 per night on the penatly kill. He hasn't proven a scoring threat at the NHL level (12 goals and 13 assists in 121 games) but he's been skating near 14 minutes a night in 17-18 offering a bit of peripheral value. Kevin Wickersham

July 2016 – Schaller signed a one-year contract worth $600,000 with the Boston Bruins.

February 2016 – Tim Schaller had a four point game last night against the Syracuse Crunch. Schaller recorded his second career hat trick. Schaller now has 20 points, 12 goals and eight assists in 28 games played this year. Since being assigned back to the Amerks on January 27^th, Schaller has seven goals and three assists in 10 games.

January 2016 – Recalled at the beginning of January, due to Nicolas Deslauriers' injury, Schaller could see an extended stay with the Sabres, Deslauriers looks to be out four to six weeks. Dan Bylsma asked Rochester coach Randy Cunneyworth who was playing the best in Rochester. Cunneyworth's answer was Schaller, so Bylsma felt Tim deserved the opportunity to play with Buffalo. Schaller will play as the fourth line pivot between Legwand and Foligno to begin his stint in 2016.

October 2015 – Schaller has been recalled from the Amerks, but has yet to get into the Sabres lineup. He has shown his work ethic in the AHL and now he wants to show that he has more than just a gritty player who once and a while gets on the scoresheet. In six games, so far, this year Tim has one goal and two assists. Bylsma noticed Schaller had a rough training camp and had a good enough excuse, he noticed Schaller was fighting through an injury and wasn't able to play at his best. Look for Schaller to crack the lineup in the next few games and maybe he can put his name on the scoresheet once or twice and become a regular in the bottom six of the lineup. Paul Zwambag

August 2015 – Tim Schaller has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Buffalo Sabres worth $874,125 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level. Schaller’s type of game could help him land a bottom-six role, but it is likely he will be used as a call-up if there are injuries in that bottom-six group. Look for him to have another solid year in the AHL with a much improved Amerks squad. Paul Zwambag

2014-2015 – Schaller improved in every aspect of his game in his second season playing in the AHL for the Rochester Americans. He was called up to the Sabres six different times throughout the year. He played 18 games and had two points and two penalty minutes and played most of his minutes with Cody Hodgson and Nicolas Deslauriers. In the AHL he was the second leading scorer on the team with 43 points and led the Americans with 116 penalty minutes. All of these totals are quite an uptick from his AHL rookie year.

Four years at Providence College, every year at the collegiate level his numbers increased (5 pts, 19 pts, 21 pts and 23 pts). He signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Sabres in March, 2013. Undrafted Schaller is going to be a bottom six player if he does become a regular in the NHL; he kills penalties, has success in the faceoff circle and plays a good defensive game. He brings a lot of energy and size to the line-up. He is willing to fight if he has to, but doesn’t go looking for fights. He will chip in a few points, but it isn’t the main part of his game. He won’t be a mainstay in the Buffalo bottom six for a couple more years. If there are injuries he could be called up to fill the bottom of the roster. His AHL numbers look good, but they won’t transfer into NHL offensive numbers.

Fantasy Outlook: D+

Schaller shouldn’t be considered a fantasy asset unless you are in a deep league that has the extra stat categories; faceoff wins, hits, blocks and penalty minutes.

Footage:

Tim Schaller’s first career NHL goal.

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Schaller doesn’t fight often, but he sure can hold his own.

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