Arizona Coyotes Player Profile: Paul Bissionnette

Always a Colorful Guy, Former Arizona Coyotes’ Enforcer Paul Bissionnette’s Latest Challenge

If you ever attended an Arizona Coyotes game from ’09 to ’14 you may have noticed him, but maybe not because he wasn’t a regular roster player. Instead, a definite fourth liner whose specialty was being an enforcer, sticking up for his team-mates and body slamming anyone near him. At 6′ 2″/216 he had the goods to deliver some awesome checks while playing with the Arizona Coyotes.

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Known for his twitter prowess, almost more than his hockey skills, Bissionnette currently has 657,000 twitter followers. Gee, it makes my 27 28 seem pretty puny. Actually it is extremely puny. Speaking of puny… see his NHL stats below.

@BizNasty2point0

TWEETS
8,950
FOLLOWING
1,620
FOLLOWERS
657K
FAVORITES
4,405
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Following
Paul BissonnetteVerified account
@BizNasty2point0
Once played in the ECHL for the Wheeling Nailers, seriously, that was the name. Now playing in the Los Angeles Kings organization. Instagram: @Biznasty

Bissionnette’s hockey stats are not that notable, but man could the guy drop the gloves and plummet his opponent using his pugilistic prowess where he grabs his opponent’s jersey to keep him away from him, and rabbit punches him with that same hand. It was an effective technique. In his 1322 games he had 835 penalty minutes, which almost means he was in the penalty box more than on the ice. His penalty minutes per NHL game came to 1.68, and he was in the penalty box 31% of the time he played.

Recently it was revealed that Bissionnette was suffering from depression earlier this year when he was not signed to play hockey with a team. As detailed in a post by Cam Tucker of ProHockeyTalk.com Bisssionnette is busy playing in the Calder Cup playoffs for the Manchester Monarchs, the AHL affiliate of the L.A. Kings. The final series, between the Monarchs and Utica Comets, minor-league affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, begins Saturday.

Bissonnette is looking forward to playing in that series, however at the start of the season, he was without a job, before eventually signing an AHL deal with Portland, the AHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes. That didn’t last very long, as he only played eight games before signing on with the Monarchs. However, he admitted in a lengthy and candid interview with TSN 1040 radio on Friday, when asked about his plans for the future outside of hockey, to suffering from “a little bit of depression at the start of the year” prior to signing with a team.

He then expanded on his personal battle, but said it was not related to his history with fighting.

"“It’s weird. I’ve never dealt with it before but it’s amazing what the mind can do to the body,” he said."

"“I’m sure people have dealt with way worse cases. But I actually reached out to the NHL doctors. I was doing regular training … and it just seemed like I was really sore, it’s like I ran a marathon. I couldn’t get off the couch. I was kind of curled up in a ball.”"

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