PLAYING FOR A PURPOSE
Sens’ Paul has inspiration
Wherever he has gone in the past few years, Nick Paul has kept on growing.
Wherever he goes from now, he plans to keep on giving, as well.
Paul, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound centre-winger acquired by the Ottawa Senators in last summer’s trade for Jason Spezza, is pencilled in to start next season with the Binghamton Senators.
He might not be there long, at least according to Senators general manager Bryan Murray, who suggested this week that Paul could find himself in the big leagues in the first few months of the 201516 season.
Paul, 20, who has joined his fellow Senators prospects at the club’s development camp this week, says Murray’s comments are motivating, and “makes you want to work that much harder” during summer workouts.
Yet for all of his growth as a player — he stood a mere 5-foot-5 during his first year of midget hockey — he’s also keen on spreading the word about mental illness and raising money for the cause.
In that regard, he’s following the path of former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and the D.I.F.D. movement.
Paul won the OHL’s Humanitarian Player of the Year Award in May thanks to Points4Paul, which asked fans to donate to the child and mental health unit of a North Bay hospital for every point he registered. Paul, who lost a close friend to suicide in high school and was stunned by the death of Terry Trafford of the Saginaw Spirit in 2014, talked openly about awareness of mental health issues while playing for the Canadian junior team.
“Wherever I’m playing, I’m bringing it with me and I’m trying to add charity events and add in some other stuff,” said Paul, who scored the lone goal during Thursday’s instrasquad game at the club’s development camp.
“There are a lot people out there, they don’t know how to talk about it, so they keep it inside.
“At first, it was hard for me to talk about it, but now, talking about (his high school friend) helps. People aren’t unstoppable. They have problems.”
Paul promises to be active in Binghamton, anxious to make his mark wherever he can.
As a player, the Senators have been impressed with how he has adapted to new situations, including a variety of roles while playing alongside Curtis Lazar on Canada’s gold-medal winning world junior team. He has the makings of eventually becoming a hard-toplay-against power forward in the NHL — he has scored 63 goals and 49 assists in the past two seasons with North Bay — and the Senators are embracing the youth movement.
Paul, played primarily as a centre with North Bay, isn’t picky about his position. Given the departure of winger Erik Condra to Tampa Bay as a free agent on Wednesday, the quickest route to the Senators lineup might come on the wing. He is listed as a left winger during the Senators development camp.
“Whatever the coaching staff wants me to do,” he said. “If you look at the world juniors, I started out as a fourth-line grinder … by the end, I was playing with Lazar and (Connor) McDavid. Whatever position they want me to play, wherever I play, centre or left, it doesn’t matter.”
Murray’s words have given him confidence, but he recognizes the jump from junior to pro isn’t an easy step.
“When Murray says that about you it’s good and you want to keep going. But I can’t let it get to me right now. What I’m doing right now is the right thing. I just have to keep going in the same direction. I’m already pushing myself to the limit, but as soon as I reach that limit, I know I’ve got to push even more.”