Gilbert Perreault

Gilbert Perreault (born November 13, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played for 17 seasons with the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres.

He was the first draft pick of the Sabres in their inaugural season in the NHL.

He is well known as the centre man for the prolific trio of Sabres forwards known as The French Connection.

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.

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 Rick Kehoe and 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.

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.

In 1970, two new franchises were awarded in the NHL — the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks.

It was a foregone conclusion Perreault would be the first selection in the 1970 Entry Draft.

The two new teams took part in a roulette wheel spin to determine who would get the first pick.

Ultimately, the Canucks were allocated numbers 2-6 on the wheel, while the Sabres had 8-12 (The number 7 spot was neutral, meaning the pointer landing on it would have required a re-spin).

The trio helped the Sabres reach the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

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, which remains a Sabres record.

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.

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 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.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.

Known for his ability to stickhandle in close quarters, he is regarded as one of the most skillful playmaking centres of all time.

In 2017 Perreault was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

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.