Cédric Paquette

Cédric Paquette
Paquette with the Tampa Bay Lightning in December 2014
Born (1993-08-13) August 13, 1993 (age 31)
Gaspé, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
KHL team
Former teams		 Dynamo Moscow
Tampa Bay Lightning
Ottawa Senators
Carolina Hurricanes
Montreal Canadiens
Dinamo Minsk
NHL draft 101st overall, 2012
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2013–present

Cédric Paquette (born August 13, 1993) is a Canadian-Russian professional ice hockey player for the HC Dynamo Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was selected in the fourth round, 101st overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2012 NHL entry draft and won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2020. Paquette has also previously played for the Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, and Montreal Canadiens.

Playing career

Junior

As a youth, Paquette played in the 2006 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Chandler, Quebec.[1]

Paquette played for College Notre-Dame of Montreal for three seasons scoring 28 goals. He then played major junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Montreal Juniors and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, scoring 58 goals and 131 points, with 191 penalty minutes, in 126 games played.[2]

Professional

Tampa Bay Lightning

Paquette was drafted in the fourth round, 101st overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2012 NHL entry draft. On May 3, 2013, the Lightning signed Paquette to a three-year, entry-level professional contract,[2] assigning him to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, to start the 2013–14 season.[3] On April 11, 2014, after posting 20 goals and 22 assists, with 153 penalty minutes, in 70 games played with the Crunch, the Lighting recalled Paquette.[4]

On November 4, 2014, during the 2014–15 season the Lightning recalled Paquette from Syracuse, his second recall of the season after having previously appeared in four games with the team.[5] Two nights later, on November 6, Paquette scored his first two NHL goals in Tampa Bay's victory over the Calgary Flames, 5–2.[6] On January 29, 2015, Paquette scored his first career NHL hat-trick in a 5–1 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.[7] On April 27, he scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal in a 5–2 Lightning win over the Red Wings in the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals.[8]

On June 24, 2016, the Lightning announced that it had re-signed Paquette to a two-year contract extension. Paquette appeared in 56 games with the team in the previous season, registering six goals, eleven points, and 51 penalty minutes. His 51 penalty minutes were good for fourth on the team during the regular season. He was also one of five Lightning players to score a shorthanded goal during the 2015–2016 season. Paquette also played in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games with the team, posting one assist and 24 penalty minutes. Paquette had played in 122 NHL games, all with the Lightning, over the previous three seasons. During that span he recorded 18 goals and 31 points to go along with 102 penalty minutes.[9]

On November 30, 2017, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Paquette had been suspended for one game for boarding Boston Bruins' defenseman Torey Krug on November 29, 2017, at TD Garden.[10]

During the 2018–19 season, Paquette had a career-high 13 goals along with 4 assists and 17 points in a career high 80 games with the Lightning and led the team in penalty minutes.[11]

On July 5, 2019, the Lighting signed Paquette to a two-year, $3.3 million contract extension.[11] In 2019–20, Paquette scored 7 goals, 11 assists and 18 points in 61 games with the Lightning until the last 3 weeks of the 2019-20 season got annulled due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. He also played in 25 playoff games as the Lightning won the Stanley Cup against the Dallas Stars, defeating the Stars in 6 games.[12]

Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes

On December 27, 2020, Paquette's seven-season tenure with the Lightning ended as he was traded along with Braydon Coburn and a second round pick in 2022 to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Marián Gáborík and Anders Nilsson.[12][13] After attending the Senators training camp for the pandemic delayed 2020–21 season, Paquette made his Senators debut on the club's fourth line in a 5–3 opening night victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 15, 2021.[14]

On February 13, 2021, after a very brief stint with the Senators, Paquette, who played in nine games, was traded along with Alex Galchenyuk to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Ryan Dzingel.[15] He played out the remainder of his contract with the contending Hurricanes, collecting 3 goals and 7 points through 38 regular season games.[16]

Montreal Canadiens

As a free agent from the Hurricanes, Paquette joined his fourth club in short succession by agreeing to a one-year, $950,000 contract with the Montreal Canadiens on July 28, 2021.[16] He was intended to be a replacement for Corey Perry. However, he saw his ice time diminish having only scored 2 points in 24 games until being scratched from the lineup from January 20 to March 13, 2022. That day he was placed on waivers and was demoted to the Laval Rocket of the AHL. He played in 14 regular season games with Laval and 14 playoff games.[17]

KHL

As a free agent from the Canadiens, Paquette went overseas and accepted a contract with Belarusian club, HC Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, on August 16, 2022.[18]

Following a successful lone season with Minsk, Paquette extended his career in the KHL by signing a two-year contract with Russian based club, HC Dynamo Moscow, on May 2, 2023.[19]

Personal life

Paquette's cousin, Christopher Paquette, was also drafted by the Lightning in the 2016 NHL entry draft. His cousin was taken in the fifth round with the 148th overall pick.[20] On October 21, 2024, Paquette announced that he had acquired Russian citizenship and thus was no longer considered an import in the Kontinental Hockey League.[21]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2008–09 Collège Notre-Dame Albatros QMAAA 45 12 6 18 34 4 0 0 0 4
2009–10 Collège Notre-Dame Albatros QMAAA 32 10 18 28 83 8 5 2 7 24
2010–11 Collège Notre-Dame Albatros QMAAA 34 28 27 55 102 17 5 11 16 36
2010–11 Montreal Juniors QMJHL 4 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2011–12 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada QMJHL 63 31 17 48 88 11 7 10 17 22
2012–13 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada QMJHL 63 27 56 83 103 15 7 5 12 33
2012–13 Syracuse Crunch AHL — — — — — 3 0 0 0 0
2013–14 Syracuse Crunch AHL 70 20 24 44 153 — — — — —
2013–14 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 2 0 1 1 0 4 0 2 2 16
2014–15 Syracuse Crunch AHL 5 4 3 7 7 — — — — —
2014–15 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 64 12 7 19 51 24 3 0 3 28
2015–16 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 56 6 5 11 51 17 0 1 1 24
2016–17 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 58 4 6 10 80 — — — — —
2017–18 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 56 5 4 9 41 17 1 1 2 37
2018–19 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 80 13 4 17 80 4 1 0 1 0
2019–20 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 61 7 11 18 42 25 0 3 3 16
2020–21 Ottawa Senators NHL 9 1 0 1 4 — — — — —
2020–21 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 38 3 4 7 17 4 0 1 1 2
2021–22 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 0 2 2 25 — — — — —
2021–22 Laval Rocket AHL 14 9 1 10 28 14 4 3 7 12
2022–23 Dinamo Minsk KHL 57 14 13 27 56 5 2 0 2 33
2023–24 Dynamo Moscow KHL 57 22 13 35 28 8 4 3 7 8
NHL totals 448 51 44 95 391 95 5 8 13 123
KHL totals 114 36 26 62 84 13 6 3 9 41

Awards and honours

Award Year
NHL
Stanley Cup champion 2020 [22]

References

  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Lightning Agree To Terms With 2012 Draftee Cedric Paquette". Tampa Bay Lightning. May 3, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  3. ^ "Lightning Assign Four to Syracuse". Tampa Bay Lightning. September 21, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  4. ^ Kramer, Lindsay (April 11, 2014). "Syracuse Crunch forward Cedric Paquette gets first promotion to Tampa Bay". Syracuse.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  5. ^ "Lightning Recalls Cedric Paquette From Syracuse Crunch". Tampa Bay Lightning. November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  6. ^ "Paquette scores 1st 2 NHL goals, Lightning complete 4-game home sweep by beating Flames 5-2". National Hockey League. The Canadian Press. November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  7. ^ O'Brien, James (January 29, 2015). "Lightning ride Paquette's first hat trick to Atlantic lead". ProHockeyTalk. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  8. ^ Burns, Bryan (April 27, 2015). "Lightning force Game 7 with 5-2 win in Detroit". Tampa Bay Lightning. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  9. ^ "Lightning Re-Sign Cedric Paquette to a Two-Year Contract". Tampa Bay Lightning. June 24, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  10. ^ "Paquette suspended one game". NHL.com. November 30, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Paquette signs two-year contract with Lightning". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Ottawa Senators complete trade with Tampa Bay Lightning". Ottawa Senators. December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  13. ^ "Ottawa Senators acquire Coburn, Paquette, pick from Lightning for Gaborik, Nilsson". TSN. December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  14. ^ "Senators kick into overdrive to storm past Maple Leafs". CBC Sports. January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  15. ^ "Canes Acquire Paquette and Galchenyuk". Carolina Hurricanes. February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  16. ^ a b "One-year contract for forward Cedric Paquette". Montreal Canadiens. July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  17. ^ Hickey, Pat (August 16, 2022). "Former Canadien Cédric Paquette signs with KHL's Dinamo Minsk". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  18. ^ "Cédric Paquette poursuivra sa carrière avec le Dinamo de Minsk dans la KHL" [Cédric Paquette will continue his career with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL]. RDS (in French). August 16, 2022. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  19. ^ "Cedric Paquette moves to Dynamo Moscow" (in Russian). HC Dynamo Moscow. May 2, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  20. ^ "Lightning Select Christopher Paquette with No. 148 Pick at NHL Draft". Tampa Bay Lightning. June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  21. ^ Jacob Titus (October 22, 2024). "Former Stanley Cup Winner, QMJHL Star Adopts Russian Citizenship". The Hockey News. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  22. ^ "Tampa Bay Lightning win Stanley Cup in Pandemic Bubble". The New York Times. September 28, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.