LEWISTON – Much-traveled 20-year-old Lewiston Maineiacs defenseman Jonathan Paiement has found a home, at least for the time being.
After a day of speculation, Maineiacs head coach and general manager Clem Jodoin said Wednesday that Paiement will most likely be in the lineup Friday against the Moncton Wildcats. The Maineiacs opened the season with a 4-1-0-1 record on the road, and Friday’s game is Lewiston’s home-opener.
“He should be playing,” said Jodoin. “I don’t know who we will have to sit out yet in his place, but for now at least, everybody will stay here.”
After arriving in Lewiston for the Maineiacs’ training camp in August, Paiement went to the New York Rangers’ camp. Two weeks later, Paiement was assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ American Hockey League affiliate. A week and a half later, Paiement was cut in Hartford. and told he would be a third-pair defenseman with the Rangers’ East Coast Hockey League affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., Paiement elected to return to Lewiston.
Without Paiement, Lewiston’s roster stood at 23 players, including two goaltenders. With him, the Maineiacs now have 24, one shy of the number they started with last season.
“We had 25 last year and with the injuries we still got to the point where we were short,” said Jodoin. “Look at Moncton last year. They carried 27 players. It’s a long schedule, and you never know what is going to happen. Everyone has to be ready in case an injury does happen.”
The addition of Paiement means that one of the six regular defensemen to this point in the season will likely sit.
“In a way, it’s nice to have that comfort zone,” said Jodoin. “It puts the pressure on everyone to play their best all the time. Maybe a trade happens later on in the season, maybe nothing, but for now he is a part of this team.”
Paiement sat down to meet with Jodoin and assistants Ed Harding and Jeff Guay this week, and the coaching staff established the rules under which Paiement, and the rest of the team, would operate this season.
“We established what we had to say,” said Jodoin. “That is a team matter, though. We told him our rules, our ground rules. Now it’s time to pull the whole thing together.”
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