Paul Bissonnette was assaulted at an Arizona restaurant on Sunday, local police told Sportsnet on Monday.
Bissonnette also confirmed the incident in a video posted to X.
Bissonnette was assaulted by six men after he stepped in to help restaurant management calm an altercation in Scottsdale, Ariz., police said.
The men assaulted Bissonnette “inside and outside the restaurant,” police added.
Bissonnette was transported to a hospital and appears to have since been released.
“All is good, guys. It sucks … but could have been a lot worse,” Bissonnette said in the video.
Six men were arrested and face charges related to assault and disorderly conduct.
Bissonnette, who played parts of six NHL seasons mostly with the Phoenix Coyotes organization, is now widely known as a host of Barstool’s Spittin’ Chiclets podcast and as an analyst for NHL on TNT and Sportsnet.
He said that a group of men caused a “raucous” with the restaurant manager when they were denied drinks, and so he reacted.
“I don’t think there was anyone who could go help him out, so I went over, I just grabbed the guy’s arm that was on him, I said ‘Sir if you continue to harass and assault the staff we’re gonna have problems.’ And then they just started chucking. And so it escalated extremely quickly,” Bissonnette said.
Bissonnette said he was knocked down “a couple times” but “luckily didn’t get knocked out.”
He added that he was grateful for the authorities who came to the scene.
“I just want to thank not only the staff who had to put up with that, but the police who were very quick to get on the scene. … The police department paramedics came over, helped me out, at least get me checked out and then the people at the hospital.”
