Paul Bissonnette called it his “hot take of the century” on a Central Division preview episode of Spittin’ Chiclets: the Minnesota Wild are going to miss the playoffs. A few days later, the man who runs the team got a live national broadcast to answer him.
Bissonnette’s reasoning centered on the unresolved Quinn Hughes situation and Minnesota’s depth down the middle.
“I think that they’re gonna get off to a little bit of a tough start. And I think that the Quinn Hughes noise is gonna get loud,” Bissonnette said, per The Hockey News. “They have Joel Eriksson Ek at center ice. Who the f*** are their other centermen? I just think it’s a strong division, it’s a strong conference. They’re riding the high of last year and now they’ve got this daunting storyline coming in.”
Bill Guerin’s chirp
Keith Yandle agreed with him. Ryan Whitney did not, telling him he was “nuts” to think Minnesota misses out.
The clip made its way to Bill Guerin by Friday night, when the Wild president of hockey operations sat in the TNT booth during a preseason game against Dallas. John Forslund asked whether he’d seen it. Guerin had.
“Is that the guy that does all the goofy stuff? I’ve heard of him. He wears his shirt unbuttoned to here?” Guerin said. “Usually it takes somebody that’s been in the playoffs to comment on playoffs. I guess he can say what he wants for his clicks and everything like that, but we got 84 games to prove him wrong. Coming for ya, Biz.”
How many playoff games did Paul Bissonnette play?
This is where the chirp gets complicated, because Bissonnette technically has postseason experience. He appeared in four playoff games with Phoenix across 2011 and 2012, for a combined total of 12 minutes and seven seconds of ice time.
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He was quick to point that out.
“You son of a b**** Billy. I played in NHL playoffs though, that’s false information from Billy G,” Bissonnette wrote on X. “Someone has to have the shift I played somewhere.”
For what it’s worth, the two are friends, which is presumably why Guerin felt comfortable going that far. Minnesota has reached the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons and lost 2-1 to the Stars in the game Guerin was being interviewed during.
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