Daniel Paille

Daniel Joseph Paille (born April 15, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He was originally drafted 20th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and also played in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.

For the politician, see Daniel Paillé.

Daniel Paille
Paillé playing for the Boston Bruins.
Born	April 15, 1984 Welland, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Buffalo Sabres Boston Bruins Ilves Tampere New York Rangers Brynäs IF
NHL Draft	20th overall, 2002 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	2004–2017

Current position
Title	Volunteer Assistant coach
Team	Canisius
Conference	Atlantic Hockey
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2019–Present	Canisius (assistant)

Playing career

Junior

Paille played junior hockey for the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s Guelph Storm. He was also a member of Team Canada for the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and served as Canada's captain for the same tournament in 2004, winning silver medals in both.

Professional

Paille scored his first career NHL goal on January 14, 2006, against the Los Angeles Kings. In the summer of 2007, he signed a one-year, $535,000 one-way contract to remain in Buffalo, then again re-signed with the Sabres the next summer, on July 16, 2008, on a two-year, $2.2 million contract that paid $900,000 in his first year and $1.3 million in his second.

On October 20, 2009, Paille was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for a third-round and a conditional fourth-round draft pack. His move to Boston marked the first-ever trade of a player under contract between the two division rivals in their common 39 years in the NHL.[1]

Paille won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins on June 15, 2011, over the Vancouver Canucks in a 4–0 Game 7 victory. He was a major contributor on the penalty kill, as he and linemate Gregory Campbell were instrumental in holding the high-powered Vancouver power play unit to just two goals scored in the seven-game Finals series.

After completing his third season with Boston in 2011–12, Paille was re-signed by the Bruins to a three-year contract on June 1, 2012.[2]

Paille signed with Ilves in Finland on December 2, 2012, during the 2012–13 NHL lockout; he rejoined the Bruins when play resumed in mid-January 2013. On June 15, during the 2013 playoffs, Paille scored the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 2 of the Finals, giving the Bruins a 2–1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Two days later, on June 17, he scored the first goal in Game 3 of the Finals, which turned out to be the game-winner in the Bruins' 2–0 win over Chicago. Despite taking a 2–1 series lead, the Bruins would ultimately lose the series, 4–2.

On April 13, 2015, the Bruins, after missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years, informed Paille that they would not be offering him a contract extension, which made him an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2015.

Paille playing for Ilves during the 2012–13 NHL lockout.

On September 13, 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks invited Paille to attend their training camp on a Professional Tryout agreement.[3] He was subsequently released by the Blackhawks on September 28.[4] The following day Paille signed a professional tryout with the Rockford IceHogs, Chicago's American Hockey League affiliate.[5] Paille appeared in 31 games with the IceHogs, before he was signed to one-year contract for the remainder of the season to add depth to the New York Rangers on January 21, 2016.[6] On April 20, 2016, Paille was recalled by the New York Rangers from the team's AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.[7]

At seasons end, Paille opted to continue his career abroad, agreeing to a one-year contract in Sweden with Brynäs IF of the SHL on May 19, 2016.[8]

During his second season with Brynäs in 2017–18, Paille posted 5 points in 14 appearances to begin the campaign before his career was effectively ended through injury, after receiving a blindside hit from Thomas Larkin in a Champions Hockey League game against German club, Adler Mannheim, on November 8 2017. After suffering three earlier concussions from his tenure in the NHL, Paille was ruled out from the remainder of the season and returned to North America.[9]

Personal life

Paille was raised in Welland, Ontario. He attended to Saint François Elementary School and École Secondaire Confédération. Paille played his minor hockey with his hometown Welland Tigers of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA)'s South Central AAA league. His teammates growing up in Welland included several future NHLers, including Nathan Horton, Daniel Girardi, Andre Deveaux and Matt Ellis. He admired Steve Yzerman when he was growing up. In 2009, Paille married his longtime girlfriend, Dana Goretsas.[10]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1998–99	Welland Tigers AAA	SCT U15		52	42	41	83	40		—	—	—	—	—
1999–2000	Welland Cougars	GHL		42	14	17	37	19		16	16	16	32	—
2000–01	Guelph Storm	OHL		64	22	31	53	57		4	2	0	2	2
2001–02	Guelph Storm	OHL		62	27	30	57	53		9	5	2	7	9
2002–03	Guelph Storm	OHL		54	30	27	57	28		11	8	6	14	6
2003–04	Guelph Storm	OHL		59	37	43	80	63		22	9	9	18	14
2004–05	Rochester Americans	AHL		79	14	15	29	54		9	2	2	4	6
2005–06	Rochester Americans	AHL		45	14	13	27	29		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		14	1	2	3	2		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Rochester Americans	AHL		29	7	14	21	12		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		29	3	8	11	18		1	0	0	0	0
2007–08	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		77	19	16	35	14		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		73	12	15	27	20		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		2	0	1	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Boston Bruins	NHL		74	10	9	19	12		13	0	2	2	2
2010–11	Boston Bruins	NHL		43	6	7	13	28		25	3	3	6	4
2011–12	Boston Bruins	NHL		69	9	6	15	15		7	1	0	1	2
2012–13	Ilves	SM-l		9	2	4	6	6		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Boston Bruins	NHL		46	10	7	17	8		22	4	5	9	0
2013–14	Boston Bruins	NHL		72	9	9	18	6		7	1	0	1	2
2014–15	Boston Bruins	NHL		71	6	7	13	12		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Rockford IceHogs	AHL		31	1	3	4	2		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	New York Rangers	NHL		12	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Hartford Wolf Pack	AHL		23	5	6	11	6		—	—	—	—	—
2016–17	Brynäs IF	SHL		45	12	13	25	22		20	5	5	10	0
2017–18	Brynäs IF	SHL		14	1	4	5	12		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				582	85	87	172	135		75	9	10	19	10

Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Canada
Spengler Cup
	2015 Davos

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2001	Canada Atlantic	U17	6th		4	1	3	4	0
2003	Canada	WJC			6	0	0	0	2
2004	Canada	WJC			6	4	0	4	2
Junior totals					16	5	3	8	4

References

1. Vogl, John. "Sabres move forward without Paille". Buffalo News. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
2. "Bruins sign forwards Paille, Bourque to multi-year deals". The Sports Network. 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
3. "Daniel Paille agree to PTO with Blackhawks". CSN Chicago. 2015-09-13. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
4. Harrison, Doug. "Lubomir Visnovsky, Tomas Kopecky, Daniel Paille released from PTO deals by Blackhawks". CBC Sports. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
5. Cain, Brandon (2015-09-29). "Daniel Paille agrees to tryout with AHL Rockford IceHogs". Second City Hockey. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
6. "Rangers sign LW Daniel Paille to add depth upfront". New York Post. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
7. "New York Rangers Recall Seven Players from Hartford Wolf Pack". Archived from the original on 2016-05-05.
8. "Stanley Cup champion to Brynäs!" (in Swedish). Brynäs IF. 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
9. "Ex-Bruin Pailles career likely over after hit". NBC Sports. June 7, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
10. "What's Bruin?: Daniel Paille". WHDH.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2012.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database