The Bruins grades continue to roll on out! This time we’ll be taking a look at two of the B’s centers.
Tim Schaller
Inside the regular season numbers: 7 goals, 7 assists, 14 points, -6
Inside the postseason numbers: 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point, +2
Grade: B
The Bruins acquired Tim Schaller during free agency and signed him to a one-year deal. Schaller struggled to stay healthy at times throughout the year, but overall he was a solid pickup.
There are many potential ways to evaluate Tim Schaller, but to put it simply he’s a very safe player. Nothing more and nothing less.
Schaller takes care of the puck very well and almost never makes a mistake. He is very smart on defense and is a big team player. The only drawback to this is that he rarely sees any scoring chances, almost always opting to pass rather than shoot himself. While this may seem like a universally good trait, it hindered the Bruins at times during situations in which they needed some urgency.
Schaller’s strong start to the season was brought to a halt by a lower body injury that he battled over the second half of the year.
He was healthy enough to play in the postseason, but only found the back of the net once.
Despite having a career year offensively, Schaller is never going to be an offensive power house. However, his careful style of play will always make him appealing to NHL general managers. Schaller isn’t a player the Bruins wanted leading the charge, but he was a smart fourth line player that provided Boston some solid depth.
Austin Czarnik
Inside the regular season numbers: 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points, -10
Inside the postseason numbers:
Grade: C-
Austin Czarnik’s has potential, but he isn’t ready for the NHL level quite yet. He was called up at the beginning of the season, but didn’t play much after the new year.
In his 49 games, he managed to light the lamp on five occasions and accumulated 13 points, but couldn’t find consistency.
While he managed to at least get something going offensively, he was a liability on defense. He was -10 on the season and it very well could have been worse.
Czarnik was reassigned to the minors in March and never returned to the Bruins lineup.
