Gilbert Perreault

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Perreault was a standout junior hockey player who went on to be selected to nine National Hockey League All-Star Games and two post-season NHL All-Star teams (second team centre), while winning the Calder Memorial Trophy and a Lady Byng Trophy, and being selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He played his entire 17-year career with the Buffalo Sabres and continues to be the all-time franchise leader in career regular season games played, goals, assists, points, game-winning goals, and shots on goal, serving as the team's captain from 1981 until his retirement in November 1986. He led the team to 11 consecutive playoff appearances ending with the 1984–85 season. Over the course of his 17-season career he accumulated 512 goals and 814 assists in 1191 games. Among his career highlights was the game-winning goal in overtime of the 1978 National Hockey League All-Star Game played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Perreault once totaled seven points in a single game. He also recorded the first power play goal and the first hat trick in the team's history. He is the only Buffalo Sabre to wear number 11, with the number being retired in his honor.

In Their Own Story

On March 9, 1986, at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Gilbert Perreault scored his 500th career goal against the New Jersey Devils, becoming the first (and so far only) Sabre to reach that milestone. He retired at the end of the 1985–86 season, but when pension changes came into effect boosting pensions for players who played at least 20 games in the 1986-87 season, Perreault came out of retirement. He played effectively, scoring 9 goals in the first 14 games, before retiring for good on November 24, 1986, after his 20th game. He finished his career with 512 goals and 814 assists for 1326 points in 1191 games, at the time the sixth leading scorer in NHL history. Bobby Orr once said of Perreault: "His head and shoulders go one way, his legs go the other way, and the puck is doing something else. When I first saw it I couldn't believe it." Perreault once totaled seven points in a single game, which remains a Sabres record. He also recorded the first power play goal and the first hat trick in the team's history.

Reader's Guide

Perreault began playing organized hockey at about age six. He preferred street hockey to playing on the ice and did not skate until he was eight. He began playing minor ice hockey at age nine. He played in the 1961, 1962 and 1963 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with Victoriaville. He left home at the age of 16 to join his first junior hockey team. His first year (1966–67) of junior hockey was spent with Thetford Mines in the Quebec Junior A League. His teammates included Marc Tardif. The team won the league championships. After the Quebec Junior A League shut down, Perreault joined the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) for the 1967–68 season, the first of three years with the Junior Canadiens. His 49 points in 47 games helped the Junior Canadiens to a second-place finish. During his second year on the team, one that included future NHL talents Réjean Houle and André Dupont as well as future professional teammates Jocelyn Guevremont and Richard Martin, Perreault blossomed. His 97 points were second on the team to Houle's 108 points, and they earned him OHA first All-Star team honours. As Perreault blossomed, the team excelled. In his second season, the team finished first in the OHA and won the 1969 Memorial Cup Canadian Junior championship. It was the first Memorial Cup win for Montreal since 1950. After Houle moved on to become the NHL's first overall pick, Perreault assumed the leadership role and compiled a 51-goal, 71 assist season, which led the team in both categories and place second in the league to Marcel Dionne's 132 points. The Canadiens defeated the Weyburn Red Wings to become the third junior team to successfully defend their championship and the Memorial Cup. Perreault was named the Ontario Hockey Association most valuable player. The record of the 1969 and 1970 Montreal Junior Canadiens in the playoffs was so outstanding it caused a change in Memorial Cup eligibility rules. Previously, all Junior clubs in Canada were eligible for the cup, but the Junior Canadiens beat a club from Prince Edward Island so badly in the playoffs that 'Junior A' was re-organized into 'Major Junior' and 'Junior A'. Since then, only Major Junior clubs are eligible for the Cup.

Did You Know?

• Perreault wore number 11 throughout his junior career and kept it in Buffalo.
• He scored a goal in the franchise's very first game, a 2–1 victory on October 10, 1970, against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in his first season.
• He was named to the All Tournament Team at the 1981 Canada Cup despite playing in only four of Canada's seven games due to a broken ankle.