Who is the greatest Buffalo Sabres player in franchise history, Gilbert Perreault or Dominik Hasek? They are both enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame and were among the NHL's best players of their respective eras, but it's the French Connection center's longevity that earns him the GOAT label.
Perreault is known as "The Original Sabre" because the newly born organization selected him with the first overall pick in the 1970 NHL Draft. The Canadian forward proceeded to play his entire 17-year career as a member of the Sabres until his retirement in November 1986.
Nearly four decades later, the eight-time All-Star continues to hold countless Buffalo franchise records, many of which could remain in his possession until the end of time.
Most points in a Sabres career: 1,326
To put Perreault's point total in perspective, it's more than the No. 2 (Dave Andreychuk; 804) and No. 8 (Jason Pominville; 521) players on the Sabres' all-time scoring list combined. The fact he's more than 500 points ahead of second place is mind-boggling in its own right.
Tage Thompson led Buffalo with 72 points last season. He'd have to score at that rate for 18.4 seasons to reach No. 11's record mark. Even at Tage's career-best 94-point pace from 2022-23 it would take over 14 years of scoring well over a point per game.
It's also a product of the era. At Perreault's scoring peak in the mid-1970s, teams averaged around 3.4 goals per game. That number stood at 3.0 last season. That's a significant difference.
Of course, Perreault getting a chance to play a sizable chunk of his Sabres tenure alongside his terrific French Connection linemates, Rick Martin and Rene Robert, also helped his cause. It was a perfect storm that allowed an elite player to thrive.
Most games played as a Sabre: 1,191
Let's address the elephant in the room: A major reason Perreault's team records feel totally out of reach is the organization's longtime struggles. The Sabres are currently riding an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, and there's no guarantee it'll end in the near future.
In turn, star players are deciding not to stay in Buffalo for the long haul, and it's hard to blame them. Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly and numerous others have departed the 716 and almost instantly found high-end success, including several Stanley Cup titles.
Even factoring in the NHL's upcoming increase to an 84-game regular season, a player would need to play every contest for 14.2 years to reach Perreault's total. In a time period featuring free agency and trade requests, who's going to willingly stick with the Sabres that long?
If Buffalo eventually turns things around — and that's definitely an if rather than a when — it would still be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to beat this record.
Most game-winning goals for Buffalo: 81
Perreault scored the deciding goal for Buffalo at least five times in a season on nine different occasions throughout his career. He was the definition of clutch and no one in franchise history comes close. Next on the list is his teammate, Martin, at 47.
Thomas Vanek is the only player since the turn of the millennium to make a serious push up the game-winning goals list, and he finished with 41 in Buffalo, about half the 1971 Calder Trophy winner's total.
Alex Tuch has actually excelled in this area recently, tallying 20 GWGs over the past three years. Even at that impressive rate, however, he'd have to do it for 12.2 seasons to pass Perreault.
Any time it's said a player has to do something at a career-best rate for a span of 10 years or more, the chances of it actually happening are minimal.
All told, Perreault was a special talent, and the Sabres were incredibly lucky to have him as the first face of their franchise to help lay a strong foundation for hockey in Buffalo.