Boston Bruins: Daniel Paille Awaits Ambiguous Future in NHL
The Boston Bruins made their agenda clear in the final weeks of the season; Daniel Paille‘s role in Boston had ceased. The fourth line winger was denoted to the press box for the final nine games. Former general manager Peter Chiarelli divulged the end of Paille’s tenure in Boston, and little did he know, his would arrive soon after.
One uneventful summer later, Paille still awaits a new home on a hockey team, whether it’s in North America or Europe. The unrestricted free agent, though, could not halt his allegiance to the Bruins and his former teammates. Along with current Florida Panther Shawn Thornton, Paille skated with the Bruins in Wilmington during preliminary practices.
A decision as such leads to dubious possibilities.
Paille may be on the outlook for the Bruins to invite hi0m to a professional tryout. By participating with the team, albeit in an NHL Players Association jersey, Paille is kindling his friendliness with prior teammates in Boston.
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The former fourth liner may also simply be looking for ice time with fellow NHLers. Paille is in the works with several teams to sign him to professional tryouts. The Bruins, though, likely won’t be doing more business with the 31-year-old. On breakup day, when Paille’s fate was determined with the Bruins not bringing him back, the general consensus was the decision was beyond Chiarelli. President Cam Neely’s input laid a heavy burden on Paille’s chances of returning.
It’s a wait and see predicament for Paille as it stands.
The left winger’s future as a hockey player, chiefly in the NHL, is ambiguous. Teams aren’t interested in a player of Paille’s nature. Age is certainly a factor for the six-year Bruins vet. NHL teams won’t entertain contracts with Paille. They’ll stick to tryouts.
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So when will the wait game end for Paille? Undoubtedly, Paille wants a spot on an NHL roster compared to a European one. But teams have yet to make any initiative towards signing the winger, which means he may decided to play overseas in order to play it safe.
“I knew going into free agency there could be this chance,” said Paille. “Definitely not too keen on being in this position, but there’s a lot of players like myself that have played a long time that had some down years that need to prove themselves again.
“I feel like I’m a different person after going through this summer.”
With his current dilemma failing to materialize, there is still Paille’s troubled stats from last season.
Paille netted only six goals and seven assists. In his six years with the Bruins, the winger failed to score more than ten goals in a season (10 goals in 2009-10, 6 in 2010-11, 9 in 2011-12, 10 in 2012-13, 9 in 2013-14).
Paille went 36 games without scoring a goal last season. As each passing game went, the front office generalized their proposition for the offseason.
That proposition entailed not offering extensions to both Paille and Gregory Campbell.
Campbell found work relatively quickly with Columbus, while his former Bruins teammate awaits an ambiguous future in the league.
“This next week here should be a huge indicator what the direction’s going to go, but I’m confident I can play in this league next year,” Paille said to the Boston Globe. “But I’ve learned that if it doesn’t happen, there are other options”.
Follow Christopher Bokum on Twitter @ChrisBokum