Montreal-At the dawn of the opening of the autonomous players market, Tobie Paquette-Bisson had some options on the table. And a “deal” with his joint to respect.
Europe, with a child barely a month old, would not be for now, had agreed the newly married couple.
The Lightning of Tampa Bay offered him another pact of a two -part season after a campaign spent exclusively in the American League, and other training courses also courted him, but nothing appeared to him as tempting as another stay with the Laval Rocket.
A third (!) After those from 2020 to 2022 and 2023-2024.
In the event that the veteran defender Tyler Wotherspoon does not accept the contract that the Canadiens’ school club offered to him, he would be offered in Paquette-Bisson, it was made to understand.
“When the offer came, I sat with my wife. We had been talking about it for a few days. With the baby and all that was a no-brainer For us. »»
This is how the 28 -year -old rear from Rosemère signed an agreement on a valid season on July 1 only for the American League. Barely a year after having said, however, at the conclusion of his second term in place Bell that he “would be a little bastard to come back another time” if he left again.
“It was a negotiation tactic” he was nuancing interview on Tuesday with the RDS.ca. “I always loved Laval and I wanted to stay, but it was a little bit. I wanted a NHL contract to have my chance. That’s why I left. »»
Paquette-Bisson ultimately did not taste the NHL with the lightning. Bored by problems on the back as soon as he arrived at the training camp in Tampa, the Quebecer could not do justice, he who even struggled to walk so much he had inflammation in the basin region.
“I still went camp and it looks like because I didn’t take that time to get back, I fought against my body all year round. »»
During the holiday season, Paquette-Bisson finally abdicated and was removed from the training of the school club, the crunch of Syracuse, in order to take rest and receive injections in the back. This is what allowed him to complete the season with 59 games on the regular calendar on his file, and three others in series.
“When you play somewhere and you don’t have a good season, you sometimes have to change air.” I would have had the misery to return there, even with a two-part contract, “confides the one who collected three goals and 11 assists.
“By studying all the other options, I told myself that as long as going elsewhere, as well go home. We are so happy here. It would have been nonsense to go elsewhere. »»
Paquette-Bisson is therefore assured of one thing: the next season, he will pass it in his entirety in the Rocket uniform, without wondering if he will finally receive the call which he is increasingly preparing to mourn it.
“Since the start of my professional career, I always had good contracts from the American League, contracts with two valid components for the NHL, but I was all the time after chialing:” It pisses off, I am not call-up… Such a guy has been recalled … him play at the top … “
“It still has an impact on your personal life,” he says. It’s hard and it looks like you don’t enjoy your years. There, I come back to Laval and I know that I have a contract of the American League. […] We are well treated here. I am so happy. I just want to have fun And I want to enjoy my season. »»
Tobie Paquette-Bisson
Reconnect
In Laval, where he played 152 of his 268 career games in Lah, Paquette-Bisson will return to the function of big brother he played in 2023-2024 in the defensive brigade.
“It is a role that I have always loved and it is the one that everyone expects that I play. In addition, we have good young defenders. I like it to play with young people. »»
Upon the arrival of Hope David Reinbacher at the Rocket at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign, it was Paquette-Bisson who had been flanked to the left of the Austrian promising, a position he could very well occupy again next fall.
“He has much more confidence,” observes Paquette-Bisson from the one he has kept an eye in the last year. In the series, he took a little more space and he tried more games. It was the fun to have. […] I can’t wait to see what he’s going to get this year. »»
In addition to watching over the reinbacher, Adam Engström and Cie, the colossus of 6 ft 3 in and 207 LB promises to make good use of his physical game. An asset on which the Rocket would probably not have spit during the last final of the Eastern association, lost by scanning against the snarling of Charlotte.
“The first meeting [du Rocket] That I came to see in person, it was match no 1 against Charlotte. It was blatant, he was mulled a little. They were solid, Charlotte. It was pissed off to be in the platforms, I would have liked it to be there to bring what it was missing. »»
The return to the fold was already written in the sky.
