 As a youth, Paquette played in the 2006 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Chandler, Quebec.Paquette played major junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with Montreal Juniors and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, scoring 58 goals and 73 assists for 131 points, with 193 penalty minutes, in 130 games played.On May 3, 2013, the Tampa Bay Lightning signed Paquette to a three-year, entry-level professional contract, assigning him to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, to start the 2013–14 season.