Coyotes’ Paul Bissonnette suspended for 10 regular-season games

Twitter folk hero and enforcer Paul Bissonnette of the Phoenix Coyotes will be suspended for 10 games for his actions in the Coyotes-Kings preseason game Sunday night in Glendale, Ariz.

He came off the team’s bench to fight the Kings’ Jordan Nolan in the first period. That earned him a game misconduct and the 10-game suspension is an automatic sanction. The league reviewed the video Monday and also closely examined Nolan’s open-ice hit on Coyotes defenseman Rusty Klesla.

That hit is what brought Bissonnette off the bench to go after Nolan.

The league, however, determined that Nolan’s hit was legal and even issued a video explaining why there was no supplementary discipline administered in this case. Klesla suffered a concussion and whiplash and was evaluated at an area hospital as a precaution.

Bissonnette will lose $37,820 in salary. Incidentally, he is eligible to return against the Kings on Oct. 24 at Staples Center.

“I know it was a [line] change,” Phoenix Coach Dave Tippett said to reporters Monday, before the suspension was issued. “Biz was next going, but I don’t know if he jumped early... it wasn’t much of an alteration. But we’ll see where it goes.”

Bissonnette, who has more than 450,000 Twitter followers, seems to take on many various topics through social media.

Wonder whether the long suspension will be one of them?

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