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St. Louis Blues

Paul Bissonnette lands tryout with St. Louis Blues

Mike Brehm
USA TODAY Sports
Paul Bissonnette, left, fights Calgary's Tim Jackman during the 2013 preseason.

Paul Bissonnette, known as much for his big Twitter following and his epic ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as he is for his on-ice toughness, has landed an NHL gig, at least temporarily.

The St. Louis Blues announced Tuesday that he was invited to training camp on a professional tryout contract.

That, of course, doesn't mean he'll land a job there, but it gives him a chance to audition after going all summer without a new contract.

"I'm excited to be here," he told reporters after an informal skate. "It's a really good group of guys."

Bissonnette, 29, a fourth-liner, has 340 penalty minutes in 202 NHL games, including 53 regular-season fights, according to hockeyfights.com.

He played the last five seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes and started his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins after working his way up from the ECHL.

Despite playing 4:44 a night and sometimes being a healthy scratch, Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) is a social media star with 570,000 Twitter followers (the Blues account has 245,000 followers).

He made news this summer by having a helicopter drop glacier water on him during the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Bissonnette said general manager Doug Armstrong had reached out to his agent.

"They got a pretty heavy team up front and a lot of skill," he said. "I know Hitch (Blues coach Ken Hitchcock) plays a pretty defensive system. I'd say it's pretty similar to the way (Coyotes coach Dave) Tippett coaches."

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