There no Biz like show biz
Bissonnette and Coyotes hope social-media success translates to game coverage
New biz, less nasty.
Paul Bissonnette, the much-travelled NHL grinder and social media darling, moves from the ice to the broadcast booth of the Arizona Coyotes this season.
The 32-year-old carved out a niche — first on Twitter and then Instagram with the handle BizNasty — by going against the grain of hockey’s conservative culture, where players rarely show their true personality. He doesn’t necessarily see himself dropping the gloves in his new line of work, though.
“I still have that mentality where I wouldn’t even want to be (critical of players),” Bissonnette, who played parts of five seasons in Arizona, said in a recent interview from his home in Cave Creek, Ariz. “I might not fit in well on television because I’m not very controversial, where sometimes they just want the quick sound bite of guys ripping guys.”
He’ll do pre- and post-game commentary on Fox Sports Arizona, plus colour on Coyotes radio. There’s more to analysis than taking shots, and one of his new off-ice teammates already likes what he sees.
“He’s a natural, he really is,” says Tyson Nash, a TV analyst for the past 10 seasons after calling it a career with 374 NHL games in the books, 109 of them in Coyotes colours. “I think even though we’re in the hockey business, we’re still in the entertainment business and what better guy to have than Biz. Even if he can pull in a small percentage of that (social media) humour and that entertainment for the broadcast, it’s going to help out in a big way.”
The 42-year-old Nash welcomed Bissonnette as you might expect from a fellow former NHL agitator, with a chirp via social media — tweeting an image of a pylon with the caption: “So great to run into the newest addition to the @ArizonaCoyotes broadcast team @BizNasty2point0! Coyote fans u are in for a treat”.
“I couldn’t wait,” Nash recalls with a laugh — pylon being slang for a player who’s easy to skate around. “I just wanted to make him feel like part of the team immediately.”
Bissonnette owes a lot to his social media profile.
“Oh yeah, it is (my legacy),” he says. “Call it how you see it. If I would’ve never jumped on Twitter I wouldn’t have gotten to experience, I would say, half of what I got to experience, maybe even more.”
Bissonnette will also add social media content and is working with a website on a documentary series: Biznasty Does BC, which highlights players’ off-ice personalities.
Originally drafted as a defenceman by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003, he switched to forward while splitting time in the ECHL and AHL.
A bar fight while in the minors didn’t ingratiate him to the Penguins organization and he was waived after 15 games in Pittsburgh. He played parts of the next five seasons with the Coyotes and finished his NHL career with seven goals, 22 points and 340 penalty minutes in 202 games.
Despite making it to the big leagues, Bissonnette points to two other stops as his career highlights: playing with the Cardiff Devils during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, and winning a Calder Cup with the AHL’s Ontario Reign in 2016.
“Playing in the NHL was massive, but I would still put winning a Calder Cup at the top of the list,” he said. “That was a very special year for me, especially after how I started: me being on a (tryout) in St. Louis and then getting let go, then spending some time alone at home without a job.
“It was a hard time in my life. Things work out for a reason.”
Now, after parts of six NHL seasons and seven in the AHL and ECHL combined, the Welland, Ont. native is back in Arizona.
“Last (season), after suffering another major injury during the season, I thought maybe I should start (thinking about) a broadcasting career,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to be given this opportunity.”