It’s been quite the two weeks for now Ontario Reign forward Tim Schaller.
Nine days ago, he was acquired by the Kings organization as a part of the Tyler Toffoli trade, and the following day, he met his new team in Winnipeg as the Kings took on the Jets. Schaller did not play that night, but made his Kings debut two days later on February 20 against Florida, and skated with the NHL club in their next contest as well on Saturday as well against Colorado.
Two days after that, the day of the NHL Trade Deadline, Schaller was assigned to Ontario, as announced by Kings General Manager Rob Blake. The following morning, Schaller joined the Reign for his first practice, skating on a line with Gabriel Vilardi and Mikey Eyssimont, before he traveled with the team to San Jose for his first morning skate today, which came sans Vilardi.
As we await tonight’s Reign – Barracuda tilt in San Jose, here’s what Schaller had to say this morning about his impending Reign debut, playing in the AHL, and growing up as a Manchester Monarchs supporter.
Tim Schaller on his thoughts heading into his Reign debut tonight in San Jose
I’m excited. It seems like we have a really skilled and hard-working group here, so I’m looking forward to playing with them and hopefully pull a bunch of wins together and make the playoffs.
On a hectic couple of weeks, and if he’s feeling settled in the South Bay
Yeah, it’s a little different playing in the warm weather, but I like it a lot. Like I said, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve played in the American League before and it’s a really good league with a lot of good players. It’s going to be a good test tonight.
On balancing a desire to play in the NHL, versus the possibility of an expanded role with the Reign
I’m looking forward to it, it’s kind of something I’ve always wanted to do. I was a young guy in the American League one time too, and some of the older guys on my teams then, I still look up to and I still take things that I learned from them in my game. Hopefully I can be a leader and hopefully the younger guys can learn some things.
On growing up watching the Manchester Monarchs, and now playing for the Kings AHL affiliate
It’s pretty surreal, it’s kind of funny how it worked out. As much as I like the sun, I almost still wish [the team] was still back in New Hampshire, that would have been pretty cool It’s funny how things work and I’m really happy to be here.
Puck drop is slated for 7 PM tonight from San Jose – Until then!
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