Gilbert Perreault

[woods-racer]

Don't agree. He had amazing speed and would have amazing speed today plus he was elusive. He cut through defenses. He was an assist machine. And he had brains. He didn't spin his wheels like Afinogenov, who was probably faster. Perreault had many more moves and actually got around and through people and made plays that actually resulted in goals. Afinogenov was so fast he didnt know what to do. He is really known for only one play. Perreault made hundreds of plays like that, especially the kind cutting through defenses and faking out the goalie. To me, there's no comparison between Perreault and Afinogenov as players…Perreault had five times as many goals and eight times as many assists. He's a Hall of Famer; a Mario Lemieux prototype. I'm sure any team today would love to have a Perreault.

And Today's version of Gilbert shall be called Jack.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Woods-Racer

[Eleven]

Don't agree. He had amazing speed and would have amazing speed today plus he was elusive. He cut through defenses. He was an assist machine. And he had brains. He didn't spin his wheels like Afinogenov, who was probably faster. Perreault had many more moves and actually got around and through people and made plays that actually resulted in goals. Afinogenov was so fast he didnt know what to do. He is really known for only one play. Perreault made hundreds of plays like that, especially the kind cutting through defenses and faking out the goalie. To me, there's no comparison between Perreault and Afinogenov as players…Perreault had five times as many goals and eight times as many assists. He's a Hall of Famer; a Mario Lemieux prototype. I'm sure any team today would love to have a Perreault. 

 

He was definitely elusive.  Watch some video of his skating and compare him to today's speedsters, though.  He's nowhere near as fast.

 

And in no way am I comparing Perreault to Afinogenov!  I'm comparing posters' hypothetical reactions.

[X. Benedict]

He was definitely elusive.  Watch some video of his skating and compare him to today's speedsters, though.  He's nowhere near as fast.

 

And in no way am I comparing Perreault to Afinogenov!  I'm comparing posters' hypothetical reactions.

 

Gil was a beautiful skater, always in control. Extremely strong on his skates (I often think it is forgotten how strong he was). 

I never thought of him as the fastest skater north south, but laterally there was nobody faster, he'd just walk around defenders. 

 

The great thing about him was he always had his head up, and he was always patient on the puck. You couldn't attack him as a defender so he'd just hold the puck and wait for the play to develop. It was amazing sometimes, he'd have the puck, and everyone on the ice and in the stands would just freeze for a second or more (or so it seemed), he could leave an entire team flatfooted. 

[BetweenThePipes00]

This discussion is no different than trying to compare football players from an era where linemen were 225 pounds. Of course they'd get killed today but everything is relative. I am quite sure the best players of today, if you timed them, skate faster than Perreault or anyone else did in 1975. But when you consider it was 40 years ago ... I mean, the skates were borderline primitive, the quality of the ice sucked relatively speaking (for instance, the Aud wasn't even air conditioned at the time), those guys never trained year-round ... my 7-year old has better skates we bought used for $60 and probably gets better coaching as far as skating.

Drop 1975 Gil Perreault into HarborCenter and give him custom made $800 skates and I am guessing he could hang with most top pros even with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth ... at least for a few shifts, at which point he'd be sucking wind.

Then after practice they would go lift and rehydrate and eat some grilled fish prepared by their personal chef. And he'd go have a beer. It was just a different time.

Edited June 2, 2015 by BetweenThePipes00

[calti]

I was fortunate enough to see Gil at the Aud a number of times from 1970-73. As a starry-eyed kid back then, obviously he was always the main attraction (at least on the Sabres). He was the first Sabre (draft-pick wise) and to this day I don’t think there is any other Sabres player who is more representative of this franchise. He was, and is, THE quintessential Buffalo Sabre.

So even though we’ve had this discussion here before, I can’t just sit here when some are questioning his commitment, because he smoked in the 70’s. The guy was a member of the ’72 Summit Series, the ’76 Canada Cup, and he was going bananas in the ’81 Canada Cup before he got hurt. He carried a 5-year old franchise to the Cup finals. He retired as the #6 top scorer of all-time.

Back in the ‘70’s nobody cared about smoking. Back then people were allowed to smoke on airplanes, grocery stores, buses, taxis, doctor’s offices, you name it. Cigarette commercials were on TV. The culture today is completely different, but that doesn’t make people who smoked back then ambitionless degenerates. Pregnant women smoked back in the ‘70’s, and if that’s when you were born, your mom might have been one of them, but you won’t hear me telling you that your mom was a bad mother, so don’t tell me Perreault was a slacker ‘cause he smoked. That’s like saying Don Draper could have been more successful if he didn’t smoke.

 

Who said he was a slacker?? I just mentioned that heavy smoking was a contributing factor to him not becoming all that he could be because of the decreased lung capacity and premature aging . Sure smoking was common at the time. Randy Smith  was another smoker.

-But you have to remember he only started in the nhl about 10 yrs before gretzky. -It wasn't THAT different a time.

Edited June 3, 2015 by calti

[calti]

This discussion is no different than trying to compare football players from an era where linemen were 225 pounds. Of course they'd get killed today but everything is relative. I am quite sure the best players of today, if you timed them, skate faster than Perreault or anyone else did in 1975. But when you consider it was 40 years ago ... I mean, the skates were borderline primitive, the quality of the ice sucked relatively speaking (for instance, the Aud wasn't even air conditioned at the time), those guys never trained year-round ... my 7-year old has better skates we bought used for $60 and probably gets better coaching as far as skating.

Drop 1975 Gil Perreault into HarborCenter and give him custom made $800 skates and I am guessing he could hang with most top pros even with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth ... at least for a few shifts, at which point he'd be sucking wind.

Then after practice they would go lift and rehydrate and eat some grilled fish prepared by their personal chef. And he'd go have a beer. It was just a different time.

well the 225 lb lineman stiff is a bit severe of a comparison:):)..but I agree with the essence of your post. Perrault would still make the players of today look very silly just as he did in 1980.

[Tondas]

Gil was a beautiful skater, always in control. Extremely strong on his skates (I often think it is forgotten how strong he was). 

I never thought of him as the fastest skater north south, but laterally there was nobody faster, he'd just walk around defenders. 

 

The great thing about him was he always had his head up, and he was always patient on the puck. You couldn't attack him as a defender so he'd just hold the puck and wait for the play to develop. It was amazing sometimes, he'd have the puck, and everyone on the ice and in the stands would just freeze for a second or more (or so it seemed), he could leave an entire team flatfooted. 

 

Well stated X.  You have to be from my era.  You had to see the guy in action.  One step laterally from Gil was 6 feet. He would be amazing today.