Sabres Trade Paille to Bruins

by David Oleksy on Oct 20, 2009 11:47 PM EDT

The Buffalo Sabres announced they have traded Daniel Paille to the Boston Bruins for a third round draft pick and a conditional draft pick. The move effectively alleviates the Sabres roster dilemma when Andrej Sekera returns to the lineup.

There are always going to be positives and negatives when you make a trade. The trade means that Tyler Myers and Tim Kennedy should remain with the team for the season and that is good news. It also means the Sabres gave up on a former first round draft pick that was never really given a chance. It also gives a division rival a capable player that might be capable of more than we have ever seen out of him.

Paille was the Sabres first selection in the 2002 draft taken at number 20 overall. He played parts of the 05-06 season and parts of the 06-07 season with the Sabres but spent most of his time playing with the Rochester Americans. He joined the Sabres full time in 2007-2008 when he scored 19 goals and had 35 points. He was rewarded (sarcasm) for his unexpected goal total by playing as a bottom six forward when he was able to crack the lineup.

Despite playing mostly with checking line forwards and grinders, he followed up his 19 goal effort with 12 goals last season, all at even strength. His 12 even strength goals last season were less than only Thomas Vanek (18), Derek Roy (18) and Jason Pominville (13). He was tied with Clarke MacArthur and Tim Connolly who both scored 12 times at even strength last season. He had one more goal at even strength than Drew Stafford did and yet Stafford is looked at as a top six forward and Paille can't get a sniff of the lineup.

Every Buffalo Sabres player that scored double digit goals had at least three power play goals last season with the exception of Daniel Paille. Paille averaged exactly four seconds per game on the power play. Despite proving he had some offensive ability, he was never given a chance to play with a man advantage while players like Paul Gaustad and Jochen Hecht were able to increase their offensive numbers with the power play.

Paille was never a standout player but he did capitalize on some of his opportunities. His biggest issue was consistency and that led him directly into the Lindy Ruff doghouse. I always thought there had to be more than just on ice issues but we will probably never know if there was.

We do know the Lindy Ruff doghouse is not someplace a hockey player wants to be. Ales Kotalik (NY Rangers 9GP-3G-5A-8P) , Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta 5GP-1G-2A-3P) and now Paille are all examples of what happens when you are in that doghouse. It is working out for Kotalik with the Rangers and Afinogenov is showing signs of improvement for the Thrashers. It will take some time before we see where Paille will fit in with the Bruins but I think they got a fine player that will fit in nicely.

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risky trade

great analysis,
I didn’t think about Paille’s even strength numbers stacked up against some of our ‘top 6’ guys, and looking at the similarity, noticing the disparate ice time, it really makes you think,

but don’t undersell his inconsistency, it wasn’t inconsistent performance, it was inconsistent effort. It was maddening and didn’t make any sense for a young guy who should be looking to prove he belongs. It reflects an attitude and approch that is dangerous on a team that focuses on effort and adherence to a system.

It was becoming clear that Paille wasn’t going to have a large role with this team, so it is nice that we got something useful for him, but I too cringe thinking of what he may do in Boston.

by ntm on Oct 21, 2009 12:34 AM EDT reply actions

not so risky

I feel like the Sabres management made the right move. Paille gave an inconsistent effort too often and will more than likely give an inconsistent effort in Boston.

Also I have concluded (before the trade) that his attitude in the locker room was something of just plain weird. I’ve read posts from multiple fans that have met him and described him that way and in a recent interview by Ruff he stated that a “kick in the butt” wasn’t the type of approach that would work for Paille because he was a “different” type of person.

All in all they made the right move. They cut their loses with over a million in salary. Freed up a spot for potentially productive players and we can only guess to this but cleared the locker room of someone that might not have fit in.

by sabres19 on Oct 21, 2009 6:57 AM EDT reply actions

love the trade

It’s good to see us getting good compensation for someone who wasn’t going to see much ice time this season. I think the Sabres have serviceable talent in Portland that I’d rather see up than Paille like Mancari and Gerbe.

by dragonwag0n on Oct 21, 2009 8:38 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

It also gives a division rival a capable player that might be capable of more than we have ever seen out of him

I always hate to see players (in any sport) go to division rivals. Players, especially those that may feel they have been wronged, tend to play harder against their former team. Naturally, we see Boston more than most teams, which means that we’ll be seeing quite a bit of him. If he produces, it could cause problems for the Sabres.

by The Burl 8 on Oct 21, 2009 8:39 AM EDT reply actions

I actually liked seeing Afinogenov score against us last game. The fans that booed him made me sad to be a Sabres fan… WTH, he basically got cut after 14 years (or something like that), did tryouts for another team and got a job! Good for him!!!!! The fact that he scored on us after all the boos whenever he touched the puck was sweet justice as far as I’m concerned. I hope he scores on us every game. Seriously, why boo him?

I suppose Atlanta isn’t exactly a divisional rival, obviously, but they beat us more last year than Boston did, in fewer games. And of course we didn’t trade him to Atlanta, so… still, I think that was the first time I have ever been happy to see a former Sword score on them, and your post reminded me that I still needed to say something about the boos. So, uhm, yep.

by clownfat on Oct 21, 2009 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I guess

the nice part of this trade is that if you liked Paille, then you can still root for him this year. If he does well, that’s a 3rd and 4th round pick for the Sabres, which would be equal a great trade.

"Slide DiMaggio, slide!" "Hey, my name isn't DiMaggio, my name is mm..mmmm...mmm....mud."

by cmat on Oct 21, 2009 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

“Paille was the Sabres first selection in the 2002 draft taken at number 20 overall.”

Thank god NHL first rounders don’t get paid like NFL…

Honestly speaking on both parties, this was the best scenario. We needed to clear up space, monetarily and physically. We can keep Ellis as a healthy scratch. Paille might do well in Beantown (we’ll see… if he’s as weird as advertised maybe no.)

I still don’t see the need for Paetsch, especially when Sekera comes back.

Delightfully Ignoring The Truth since 1995.

by NeverendingOptimism on Oct 21, 2009 9:33 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Bogus

The only upside to this is that Paille at least gets to play hockey instead of watch it from the press box, so good for him. I have a couple things to say about this trade and neither of them are good. If you’ve followed my rants on here over the last few months, you are probably well aware that I am a huge Danny Paille fan, so clearly I was unhappy to hear this news last night.
First and foremost, I will NEVER understand why this guy constantly ended up in Lindy’s dog house. His inconsistent play, to me, stems from inconsistent ice time. He is 100 times (personal opinion I know) more consistent than Drew Stafford and yet, Staff always plays plenty and usually with Roy and Vanek. I dunno, maybe there’s more to the thought that Paille was just a weird guy and his teammates didn’t like him. But if that was such a problem, why was he here so long. If he was so weird, but good enough to make the roster, that should not have kept him off the ice. Let’s face it, the team sees him a lot more between game days then on them. Just seems to easy of an excuse to me. I won’t go into the numbers as I have recently about his ice time and shooting percentage, and career +/-, but the numbers DO gave above pretty much explain themselves.
Secondly, I don’t care if you like Paille or not, or think he should be a Sabre. The guy is a serviceable enough forward that the Bruins thought he deserved 2 draft picks to get, so he is obviously an NHL caliber player. Regardless of who they just traded, you just traded a player to a team, mid-season in your own division! Rediculous move. The Bruins just got caught in their own mistake by trading two forwards, handcuffing themselves. Then Lucic gets injured. They are a team reeling and in need of forward help, and the Sabres, division rivals, bail them out! Unbelievable. Never help a team in your own division. And for what? Draft picks in the middle rounds of next year’s draft! Great, we’ll really see the return on this investment in 5 years!

"Potential just means you haven’t done sh## yet"

by willgarr15 on Oct 21, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Its not me its you

I didn’t want my post to imply that Danny was a problem player in the locker room. I was just pointing out that sometimes people are different and perhaps he was just socially inept. I can understand liking a player and being upset that they get away from your team. (see Briere, Drury, Mckee) The brass must have felt they had more upside to some of the players in the farm system than Paille. Stafford is a highly skilled player that IS inconsistent but because of that skill I think he gets the nod more often than others.

I think the answer to the question of why he was here so long is because he was a first round pick that they felt was progressing well (see 19 goals) But last year they didn’t see that same kind of production even though 12 even strength goals is a strong showing for a 3rd or 4th line player.

Only time will tell if this was a good trade or not. Lets hope it works out more like a Jiri Novotony and less like a Taylor Pyatt trade.

by sabres19 on Oct 21, 2009 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Yea hopefully he doesn’t blow up for Boston. Part of what made me so mad over this was trading within the division.

"Potential just means you haven’t done sh## yet"

by willgarr15 on Oct 21, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions

paikke trade

glad he gets a shot,hopefully the coach of the bruins gives him a chance.any chance our over-rated terrible developer of a head coach will be sh&t-canned any time soon?what has that guy done for this team.he gets some kind of hurt put on him by a player,next thing you know they are outta here.ruff is a lousy coach.every year something new crops up that shows how bad he truly is.just once it would be nice to see something improve one year and the next it is still good.look at out power play history.same guys year to year,good one year,sucks the next.

by charles t on Oct 21, 2009 5:04 PM EDT reply actions