Wilf Paiement was the second overall selection in the first round of the
1974 NHL amateur draft by the
Kansas City Scouts. He played two seasons in Kansas City before the team moved to Colorado and became the
Colorado Rockies. Paiement was a member of the Canadian team that returned to the
World Championship in Austria in 1977 after seven years of absence. During the tournament, frustrated by the lack of success, many members of Team Canada, including Paiement, resorted to violence. Paiement attacked Swedish player Lars-Erik Ericsson (who received a stick in the eye) on April 22, as well as Russian player
Sergei Babinov (who was struck on the head by Paiement's hockey stick) after the score reached 8-0 in an 11-1 Team Canada loss."Wilf Paiement was the worst coward I ever saw on ice", said Swedish player Lars-Gunnar Lundberg, who played in the Swedish national team of 1977 in an interview in 2016. On October 25, 1978, Paiement attacked
Detroit Red Wings centre
Dennis Polonich with his stick. The diminutive five-foot-six-inch Polonich was
trash-talking with Paiement, when Paiement struck Polonich's across the face with a two-handed slash, which resulted in severe facial lacerations, a smashed nose that required extensive reconstructive surgery, and a severe concussion. Paiement received a match penalty. Initially suspended indefinitely Paiement had two league hearings before his sentence was reduced to 15 games, of which he had already served six. was given the second longest (at the time) suspension in NHL history - 15 games. Polonich sued, and was rewarded with a settlement of $850,000 on August 17, 1982. Paiement was traded from the Rockies to the
Toronto Maple Leafs along with
Pat Hickey for
Lanny McDonald and
Joel Quenneville on December 29, 1979. Paiement played in Toronto for the next three seasons before again being traded to the
Quebec Nordiques for
Miroslav Frycer and a 7th round pick in the
1982 NHL entry draft (
Jeff Triano). After five seasons in Quebec, he was traded to the
New York Rangers for
Steve Patrick where he only played eight regular season games and 16 playoff games. The
Buffalo Sabres claimed Paiement in the
1986 waiver draft on October 6, 1986. He only played one season in Buffalo before rounding out his career with the
Pittsburgh Penguins and finally, the
Muskegon Lumberjacks of the
International Hockey League (IHL) in
1987–88. At the time of his retirement, he was the last active player who had played for the Kansas City Scouts. ==Career statistics==