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Paul Bissonnette is one of the most entertaining personalities in professional hockey. He is also a free agent. Pro Hockey Talk is reporting that
the Penguins may have some interest .
The Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins are both interested in signing the 29-year-old forward, according to Fox Sports’ Craig Morgan’s source. The same source listed the Washington Capitals as another team in the running for his services, which meshes with an early statement from Bissonnette’s agent, Mark Guy.
While his personality would be great around the team, what about his on ice abilities?
Bissonnette is more known for his ability to fight than his ability to put the puck in the net, he is a self proclaimed "ankle bender".
Bissonnette was selected in the fourth round 121st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was with the Penguins where he made his NHL debut in the 2008-09 season.
Since making his debut he has played in 202 out of a possible 458 NHL games. In those 202 games he has seven goals and 22 points.
When taking a gander at his possession metrics there is a nice surprise on the surface. His Fenclose percentage is actually a very respectable 51.8%, not too shabby. However, when you dig a little deeper you start to see how that came about.
This is a player usage chart that has information from the past 6 seasons. I have marked Bissonnette with green dots.
His respectable possession has been the result of low competition and very generous zone starts. These are the kind of scenarios in which you want to put Evgeni Malkin on the ice, not Paul Bissonnette.
You need to put up way better offensive numbers to justify that kind of usage, Bissonnette has fallen way short.
By continuing to hide Bissonnette in that very favorable role the Penguins would be taking opportunity away from other guys on the roster who could make the other team pay dearly.
One could argue that the Penguins have not won a Stanley Cup since Bissonnette has been part of the organization.
A stance grounded in logic would dictate that the Penguins shouldn't be interested in anything more than a two way contract.
None of this changes the fact that Bissonnette is an awesome guy. In fact he is so awesome this was his ice bucket challenge.
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The Pittsburgh Tribune has made their choice to replace Rob Rossi on the Penguins beat
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