Sabres Edge

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Buffalo Sabres have played the Boston Bruins 245 times during the regular season, most of any opponent. They have met eight times in the playoffs, producing some of the more memorable moments in Sabres history.

But until Tuesday, the 39-year-old rivals had never made a trade of players under contract. Daniel Paille changed that.

The Sabres, faced with a logjam at left wing, sent Paille to the Bruins in exchange for two draft picks. The Sabres will receive Boston’s third-round selection in the 2010 entry draft and a conditional fourth-round pick next June.

Paille set a career high with 19 goals two seasons ago but has slid down the depth chart since. He dipped to 12 goals last year, and the 25-year-old started even slower this season.

He was a healthy scratch in the Sabres’ first four games. After recording one assist during the past two contests, he was scheduled to head back to the press box tonight when the Sabres meet the Florida Panthers. Left wings Thomas Vanek and Matt Ellis have returned from injury, leaving no room for Paille.

The Sabres also have two high-profile prospects who play left wing, Nathan Gerbe and Philip Gogulla.

"I initiated it awhile back, not specifically with Boston, but I contacted a number of teams about our situation, that we had a lot of forwards," Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier said by phone. "[Rookie Tim Kennedy] makes our team in the middle, and he pushes people out to the wing. Next thing you know, you’ve got an abundance of left wingers. That’s really the only reason that we were able to make this move.

"We’ve got some young guys that we’ll probably have to make room for at some point in the not-too-distant future. I’m not suggesting it’s going to be this year, but we’ve got some younger guys that are going to play."

Paille was a first-round selection in 2002, 20th overall. The native of Welland, Ont., played 195 games over parts of five seasons in Buffalo, recording 35 goals and 42 assists.

"Danny is just a very solid player," Regier said. "Like all players, they have strengths and weaknesses. For me, Danny doesn’t even have a weakness, per se. He’s a good, quality player."

Paille flew from Florida to Boston on Tuesday night and is scheduled to play for the Bruins today when they host Nashville. Boston, a preseason favorite to win the Stanley Cup, is only 3-4 and in need of a left winger. Power forward Milan Lucic underwent surgery for a broken right index finger over the weekend and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

The trade was Regier’s first in-season deal not near the trade deadline since November 2002, when defenseman Jason Woolley was sent to Detroit. Like all the previous Buffalo GMs, it was Regier’s first deal with the Bruins.

"I didn’t know that, but it’s not surprising given the divisional rivalry," he said. "What it really speaks to is the economics of the National Hockey League today. Ironically, I was one that always wanted to place a player in the Western Conference. It’s not always doable, and in this case it wasn’t doable. So you make the best deal you can in the Eastern Conference, and it happens to be in our division.

"Where teams are with the salary-cap situation, I think you have to make the deal that is best for your organization. I think the days of not dealing with teams in your own division or own conference are gone. … You just have to hope that the player you’re dealing helps that team beat the other teams in your division."

---John Vogl