An ongoing saga surrounding the Sabres this season has been when and where Daniel Paille would get chances to fit into the team’s lineup.
That saga officially ended on Tuesday.
The Sabres will start a three-game road trip without the former first-round pick as the underachieving forward was dealt to the Bruins for a third-round pick and a conditional fourth-rounder in next year’s draft.
Paille, who was taken with the 20th selection in the 2002 draft, had difficulty finding a niche with the club. He had one assist in two games with Buffalo this season, but was bumped off an offensive line with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford in his first start. Paille has 35 goals and 77 points in 195 career NHL games, with his best season coming in 2007-08, when he had 19 goals and 35 points. Tim Kennedy, who has played well in six starts, had jumped ahead of Paille on the depth chart.
The Bruins, who host Nashville tonight, needed to bolster their lineup after forward Milan Lucic had surgery to repair a broken finger on Sunday and placed on injured reserve.
Meanwhile, Scott Clemmensen made such a good impression in his debut for Florida that the team’s coaching staff is planning to start him tonight against the Sabres when the two teams meet at the Bank Atlantic Center.
Clemmensen, who played well for New Jersey last season after Martin Brodeur’s injury, signed a three-year deal with the Panthers in the off-season, but watched as Tomas Vokoun started Florida’s first five games.
In Friday’s contest against Philadelphia, Clemmensen turned aside 25 shots in getting the team just its second win of the season.
“I wanted to get off on the right foot so badly, sometimes that can be counterproductive,” Clemmensen told the Miami Herald. “As the game went on, I feel like I got better and better.”
Thomas Vanek (upper body) is expected to return for Buffalo.
The Sabres will also be going up against old friend Dominic Moore when they square off against the Panthers. Buffalo traded for Moore last year, dealing a second-round pick to Toronto to secure his services for the stretch run.
Florida signed the unrestricted free agent to a one-year, $1.1-million deal earlier this month.
Moore had plenty of good things to say about his old teammates.
“They’re a consistently good team, they have a lot of very talented players,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “They’re also a team that thrives on special teams.”
GAME NIGHT
Sabres at Panthers
• WHEN: 7:30 p.m. tonight
• WHERE: Bank Atlantic Center
• RADIO: WGR 550
• TV: MSG
• NOTES: Buffalo (4-1-1) is coming off its first loss of the year, a 4-2 defeat to Atlanta on Saturday. ... Team dealt Daniel Paille to Boston on Tuesday. ... Thomas Vanek (upper body) is expected to return after missing two games. ... Florida has two players at minus-6 (Nathan Horton and Bryan Allen) and two more (David Booth and Stephen Weiss) at minus-5. Buffalo’s worst plus-minus is minus-1.
Sabres
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Gerry Broome
SABRES: Paille traded; Buffalo starts road trip
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