Sabres notebook: No hard feelings from Paille
BOSTON — Daniel Paille had no hard feelings for the Buffalo Sabres and wished them no ill will after they traded him three weeks into the season. The winger would be more likely to send General Manager Darcy Regier a neatly written "Thank You" card for giving him another opportunity.
Paille was still fighting through the adjustment phase Saturday, about three weeks after he was shipped to the Boston Bruins for two draft picks. For now, he's living in a hotel while getting the lay of the land, which is a general way of saying he's figuring out how to navigate through the mishmash known as the streets of the North End.
"The one thing I can say is that I'm very fortunate to have gotten to move on as early as I did," Paille said Saturday before meeting up with his ex-mates. "I was willing to play out how everything was going to go and let the cards play, but I'm happy that it happened now. It's something that I'm grateful for."
The move helped the Sabres, who had an overabundance of forwards coming out of training camp after they acquired Mike Grier, added Tim Kennedy and kept fourth-line forward Matt Ellis. Paille's departure also cleared $1.35 million from their payroll for a player who had problems cracking the lineup.
Paille acknowledged it was a little strange putting pulling the Bruins' black-and-gold sweater over his head after spending years of being conditioned to despise them. He's still looking for his first goal with the Bruins, but he has collected four assists. Boston had killed 18 of 19 penalties after his arrival.
"It's obviously a change, but it's for the better," Paille said. "I've been looking forward to playing with them. It's been great so far."
Paille is getting something with the Bruins that had escaped him in Buffalo through the first two weeks of the season: ice time. He landed on the third line mostly with center Steve Begin and right wing Brad Marshand. He's been very effective on the power play and has been solid on both ends of the ice.
That's what the Sabres wanted from him before his production slipped from 19 goals two years ago to 12 goals last season. He was lost in the shuffle this year. The 20th pick overall in 2002 was a healthy scratch four times in six games in Buffalo before Regier made the rare move of trading him within the division.
"I had a lot of great times in Buffalo," Paille said. "I spent five years there up and down [between Buffalo and Rochester]. The last three were up. My first year, having the experience of my first game, my first goal, my first point and being part of the playoffs and the atmosphere in general was something I enjoyed there."
The game Saturday was the first between rookie Tyler Myers and the player he has been compared to the most, Bruins giant defenseman Zdeno Chara. It gave the 6-foot-8 Myers someone to look up to, literally and figuratively.
"He's such a big man and takes up a lot of space, and he shuts down the best players on the other team," Myers said. "I just take anything I can from him."
Chara, an inch taller, won the Norris Trophy last season and for years has been one of the NHL's dominant defensemen. He was 20 years old when he broke into the league and spent four difficult years developing before becoming an impact player. Myers, 19, already has provided a strong presence.
"He's starting the NHL earlier than I did," Chara said. "Obviously, he has a lot of skill and skates really well for his size. For a young player like that already playing in the NHL, it's a big step forward. I'm sure he's only getting better and better."
Veteran defenseman Steve Montador skated alongside Andrej Sekera for fourth straight game Saturday, matching his season high with one partner. The Sabres spent most of the first 11 games shuffling defensemen because of injuries to Sekera and Toni Lydman on the third pairing.
Montador played the first three games with Sekera, four games with Lydman, four with Nathan Paestch before Sekera returned from a rib injury. It was just a minor adjustment for Montador, who has played for four teams over the past three seasons.
"Maybe it would be tougher to have somebody for a year or longer and adjusting to somebody new," he said. "You definitely have partners you jell with easier than others. Everybody that I've had an opportunity to play with [in Buffalo] is a good player in their own way. I thought we jelled together quickly."
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