Former NHL player Paul Bissonnette assaulted at Arizona restaurant

Per Fox10 Phoenix, Paul Bissonette, who spent part of his career playing for the Arizona Coyotes, was assaulted by six men at a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Scottsdale police released a statement saying, “There was an altercation inside the restaurant with six adult men and the management,” adding, “The situation escalated to the men assaulting Paul Bissonnette both inside and outside of the restaurant.”

Reports suggest Bissonnette was attempting to de-escalate a situation between the six men and managers at the restaurant when the men turned their attention on the former NHL player.

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Scottsdale police described the scenario in their statement, “Reportedly, Paul Bissonnette tried to help management calm the men and get them to leave.”

In a video on X (formerly Twitter), Bissonnette expanded further on his side of events, saying, “there was a bit of a ruckus going on in the bar. It was a bunch of drunk golfers. Things obviously continued to escalate. They asked one guy to leave, and then one guy kept getting in the manager's face, put his hands on 'em.”

Bissonnette continued, “Sir, if you continue to harass and assault the staff, we're going to have problems. They just started chuckin',” adding that it was, “Unacceptable behavior at a family restaurant just because they couldn't grab another cocktail and didn't want to hear ‘no' for an answer.”

All six men involved in the assault were arrested, with five facing misdemeanor charges, and one facing a felony, per Fox10 Phoenix.

The nature of Bissonnette’s injuries are unknown, although reports suggest they were not that severe and certainly not life-threatening.

In a video released by Bissonnette on social media, the former Arizona Coyote wing said, “all is good”.

Bissonnette spent five years of his professional hockey career with the Arizona Coyotes, who moved to Salt Lake City under the new guise, as the Utah Hockey Club, after last season. These days, Bissonnette works as an analyst for NHL on TNT and is a member of the Barstool Sports' hockey podcast 'Spittin' Chiclets'.

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