Pilon was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He made his debut in the 1988–89 season, playing 62 games, recording 14 assists and 242 penalty minutes for the New York Islanders as a left shooting defenseman. He would play 10 seasons for the Islanders before being put on waivers by the team. He was then picked up on December 1, 1999, by the New York Rangers. Due to injury, he played parts of two seasons for the Rangers, before he was traded to the San Jose Sharks for a seventh round draft pick, days before he became an unrestricted free agent in 2001. He was then signed by the St. Louis Blues on July 10, 2001. He played eight games for the Blues before he suffered a broken left wrist in a game against the Rangers that subsequently ended his NHL career.
On May 14, 1993, during game seven of the Patrick Division finals between the New York Islanders and the favored defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins not only saw one of the greatest upsets in NHL playoff history but one of the worst freak accidents to ever occur on the ice. Early in the first period, the puck went into the Islanders' corner. The Penguins' star power forward, Kevin Stevens, skated in hard and attempted to hit Pilon who was battling for the puck, but instead was met by Pilon's visor which knocked Stevens unconscious in mid-air. The unprotected fall left Stevens to smash his face on the ice upon impact. Stevens laid motionless on the ice for several seconds with the referee and Penguins teammates concerned, a pool of blood forming around Stevens' head, before the team trainer attended to him. Stevens was carted off the ice in a stretcher with a neck brace. He required immediate surgery on his crushed face, injuries that ended up being a broken sinus bone and nose, as well as many facial lacerations and bruises. Stevens' face required over one-hundred stitches that left him unrecognizable, even to his own family, for the next few weeks until the swelling went down. Fortunately for Stevens, this injury did not end his career, and he played 10 more seasons in the NHL.
Pilon was born in Saskatoon, but grew up in St. Louis, Saskatchewan. His son Garrett was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. Pilon currently resides in Saskatoon with his wife and two children where he works with a uranium mining company. After battling drugs and alcohol over the course of his career, Pilon has been sober for several years and volunteers in a program that uses hockey to encourage children ages eight to 14 to avoid substance abuse.
