Photo: Kevin Hoffman
Former Coyotes enforcer Paul Bissonnette, who once looked like this, opened up to Kings blog Mayor’s Manor on Wednesday about his difficult offseason. Biznasty, who The Washington Post’s Alex Prewitt reported in August was close to signing with Washington, confirms that yeah, that totally was the plan, except the Caps couldn’t find the salary space to make it happen.
Bissonnete reveals that the Caps were trying to move veteran defenseman John Erskine to make room for him.
On if he had any conversations with Kings VP Mike Futa [his GM in the OHL] over the summer:
Paul Bissonnette: I really didn’t. I was supposed to sign with Washington. That kind of fell though, because they couldn’t [move John] Erskine. They were trying to work out a trade with him, and then I just kind of stayed in limbo there. It was either go to the camp there or to camp in St. Louis, and John Anderson, who I’m really familiar with from Phoenix, who is [a coach] in Chicago, which is St. Louis’ AHL farm team, was at camp too, so that really helped bring me in. I had an awesome time there. I figured; go to St. Louis because if I went to Washington and had a good camp, there’s still no change of me signing if they hadn’t traded Erskine. After that, I just went home. It was a tough time there. It was a pretty depressing time, not having a job. I was really frustrated and upset about it. Luckily, [I’ve] got a couple jobs here since then.”
I have so many questions.
- What was the logic behind signing Bissonnette? The Caps already have a number of players similar to him, and they are already struggling to find room for all their young talent.
- Who wanted the facepuncher? Was it MacLellan or did Trotz request one?
- Why did Bissonnette reveal that John Erskine was the trade target?
- Who was the potential Erskine trade partner and why did the Erskine trade fall through? Does the neck surgery he got one month later maybe have something to do with it not working out? What does the failed-trade partner think of the deal the proposed now that Erskine is out indefinitely?
- What is Brian MacLellan’s success rate as GM so far?
- Why does this situation remind me of George McPhee’s dealings with Eric Belanger?
Since camp, Biznasty has struggled to find a job. Earlier this week, he signed his second AHL tryout offer, this time with Kings’ affiliate (and Jeff Schultz’s current team) the Manchester Monarchs.
Thanks to reader Jared for sending me this story and JP for tweeting it first.
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