Workouts help Sabres' Paille step up
It’s a good thing Daniel Paille spent time building his upper body. It appears he may have a little more weight put on his shoulders.
The Buffalo Sabres left winger is noticeably bigger this training camp. The chest puffs out further. The shoulders bulge a little more. It’s from Paille’s dedication to an offseason training program.
Paille did the work because he saw an opening. He signed a new two-year deal with the Sabres, and he saw a chance to establish himself within the team and become part of the rapidly expanding core.
What he may not have foreseen came into view Thursday. Coach Lindy Ruff said he plans to play Jochen Hecht at center even with Tim Connolly healthy. That means the left wing spot on the second line is available. That’s merely a chance to play with Jason Pominville, possibly the Sabres’ best all-around player, and Hecht, a perennial 50-point guy.
Mr. Paille, meet Mr. Opportunity.
“I’d feel very privileged,” Paille said. “The first thing I’d need to do is take that as a privilege and try to take advantage.”
Paille put himself in line for a bump in stature with a solid season last year. He scored 19 goals, including three short-handed, while winning over fans and surprising his coach.
“Danny surprised a lot of people last year by scoring 19 goals,” Ruff said. “If you’d have asked me before the year, I don’t think I would have had him there. But he had a lot of good breaks. He had a lot of pucks that went in off him, he deflected them, but he got rewarded for going to the net.
“His penalty killing was something that we really liked. I thought his speed and tenacity on the puck was real good. Hopefully, he’ll be able to build off that and have the same type of season.”
The 24-year-old has played a season and a half in the NHL, so he is at a point in which production can jump. He said he’s already seen he can do more now than when he came into the league. His first stints were spent as a checking forward and penalty killer, skills he acquired in juniors. He can still do those, but now the offense comes, too.
“He’s fast, physical, so I’m sure he’s going to get a chance to play on another line, maybe with me and Pommer,” Hecht said. “You get that chance on the second line or even more on the power play to create a little more offense, that’s going to help his production.”
So should his work ethic. The coaches in the Ontario Hockey League named him the “hardest worker” in a poll, and the enhanced physique shows he hasn’t lost that touch. He’s listed at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, and although that’s an inch taller and two pounds lighter than last year, he looks much stronger.
“I’m really happy with last season,” Paille said, “but I’m ready to go forward and do a lot more.”
Ruff feels having Hecht at center will allow the Sabres to do more. It seems to create a formidable middle. Derek Roy, last year’s leading scorer, will man the first line. Hecht, who had a career-high 22 goals, takes the reins of the second. Connolly, productive when he’s healthy, would center the third.
“If we could come up with Derek Roy, Tim Connolly and Jochen Hecht sitting in the middle, we’re sitting pretty good,” Ruff said. “I don’t know where Adam Mair will be at the end of camp with his [knee] injury, whether he’ll be able to play. We’ll know that by the end of the month. But that would put Paul Gaustad back on the wing for us, which I think he’s pretty comfortable there. We’ve liked him playing the wing, so to have top three lines that would have those centermen, I think we’d be in good shape.”
