Tampa Bay Lightning: Happy Birthday, Cedric Paquette!

It’s time to break out the birthday cake and sing loud and proud for one of our scrappier Tampa Bay Lightning centers, Cedric Paquette.

While the off-season is not usually a time of joy for a Tampa Bay Lightning fan who wants nothing more than to see their favorite players out on the ice doing battle once again, there are moments that come along when there is cause to celebrate. Today is one of those days.

On this day, not only are we a mere 56 days away from the Tampa Bay Lightning Home Opener and the official start of the 2015-16 season, but on this day we also celebrate the birth of our very own Cedric Paquette! That’s right ladies and gentlemen…twenty two years ago today, the little boy would would one day become one of the Lightning’s scrappiest forwards would come into this world.

Paquette was originally drafted in the 4^th Round (101^st overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. After being drafted by the Bolts, Paquette would spend one more season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a member of the Blainville-Boisbraind Armada.

The following season, the Quebec native would make the jump to the professional level as he would spend his first season with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Paquette would have a pretty solid season with the Crunch. In 70 games, Paquette was able to score 20 goals and 24 assists for a total of 44 points.

Cedric Paquette would play his first ever National Hockey League game on April 16, 2014 as the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Montreal Canadiens at the then Tampa Bay Times Forum. While the Lightning may have lost this game in overtime, Paquette was able to make his way onto the scoreboard with an assist on a goal from Nikita Kucherov just over the halfway point in the first period.

The 2014-15 season was Paquette’s first full season on the Lightning’s main roster. Unfortunately, his first full season was not one without a few roadblocks. Paquette had sustained a few minor injuries throughout the season, but the one that had the most impact is when he was forced to miss a little over two weeks with an Upper Body Injury towards the end of the season.

All in all, Paquette was able to score 12 goals and 7 assists for a total of 19 points along with a plus-4 rating in the 64 regular season games he played with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2014-15 season. Paquette was also able to bring some of his regular season success along with him into the post season. Cedric Paquette played in all but two of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s postseason encounters, where he was able to add 3 more goals to his season totals.

As you can probably tell from the way we worded the beginning of this article, there is one thing in specific that we like about the young Tampa Bay Lightning forward; his scrappiness. Paquette has absolutely no issues dropping the gloves and getting in the face of an opponent that has done something to one of his teammates, even if they are twice his size like Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.

While these encounters may not always end the way that we would like them to, the message is delivered just the same; you won’t get off the hook that easily when you make a run at one of our players as long as Cedric Paquette is around.

In addition to the dropping of the gloves, Paquette is also good at knocking opponents off of the puck and quickly taking control of the situation. This is one of the most valuable assets we can have in a young forward.

At the conclusion of the 2015-16 season, Paquette is set to become a Restricted Free Agent. If he has a season like he did in 2014-15 or better, you can bet that Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman will be looking to lock in Paquette for another couple of seasons.

It is plain to see that Paquette has not yet achieved his full potential, but at this point he is still fine tuning his game. Given another season or two on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s main roster, and we could very well be looking at one of the best offensive assets that the Lightning has in their arsenal.

In any case, we here at Bolts By The Bay would like to wish Tampa Bay Lightning center Cedric Paquette a very Happy Birthday! Don’t party too hard, though. The new season is right around the corner, you know.

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