Fife Flyers have announced the signing of Canadian import forward Charles-Antoine Paiement.
The 25-year-old, who arrived in Kirkcaldy earlier today, has seen his paperwork clear in time to make his Flyers debut against Coventry Blaze on Saturday night.
After several successful years in junior hockey, Paiement made the step up to the professional game in January 2024 with the Trois-Rivières Lions in the ECHL.
In his rookie campaign with the Lions, the Quebec-born winger played 30 games during the regular season, scoring four goals and adding four assists.
He went on to feature for the club in the Kelly Cup playoffs and remained with the Lions at the start of this season, making a further 23 appearances and recording four assists.
‘Fast, competitive and skilled winger’
Paiement will don the number 72 jersey for the remainder of the season.
He joins a Fife side currently 11 points adrift at the foot of the Elite League standings, having picked up just two wins from 24 matches this season.
Discussing his new addition, Flyers interim head coach Johnny Curran, who replaced Tom Coolen before Christmas, said: “Charles is a fast, competitive and skilled winger.
“We’re extremely happy to be bringing in a player of his calibre at this time of the year.
“We’re looking forward to him joining us for the back half of the season.”
A timely addition for the Flyers
Last month, the club were granted a special dispensation roster request by the Elite League, in relation to the limit cap for non-homegrown players.
The decision came after their four Kazakh off-season imports – Maxim Musorov, Artur Gatiyatov, Madi Dikhanbek and Nikolai Shulga – left the club before Christmas.
All four players were granted an immediate release from their contract, citing extreme cultural and language differences as the primary reason for their exit.
The Elite League’s decision gave Fife the opportunity to bring in two more non-homegrown players, with talented forward Kieran Craig linking up with the Flyers little over a fortnight ago.
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