Yanic Perreault

Yanic Jacques Perreault (born April 4, 1971) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played a total of fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League. He is often considered one of the best face-off men in league history and holds the NHL record for the highest face-off winning percentage in a career (62.86%) as of the conclusion of the 2025–26 NHL season.

Playing career As a youth, he played in the 1983 and 1984 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Perreault started his hockey career for the Trois-Rivières Draveurs where he was one of the best offensive players in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, racking up a total of 185 points in his most productive season. He was drafted in the third round, 47th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1991 NHL entry draft.

Carrying a reputation as too slow a skater to succeed in the NHL, Perreault played three years for the St. John's Maple Leafs, Toronto's American Hockey League affiliate. Perreault led the St. John's Maple Leafs to a seventh game in the Calder Cup finals in the 1992 season and to first-place finishes the following two seasons; his 132 goals and 276 points became in that span, and remain, career records for the Leafs' American Hockey League franchise.

Perreault made his NHL debut in the 1993–94 season with the Leafs, showing some promise, before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a fourth round pick in 1994. He spent most of that season with the Kings' minor league affiliate, the Phoenix Roadrunners, scoring 51 goals to lead the team.

The following year was his breakout season, making the NHL full-time with the Kings, where he became the team's lead centre after Wayne Gretzky was traded late in the year amidst a full-scale reorganization of the team; Perreault scored 25 goals to finish second on the squad. He played three more seasons in Los Angeles before being sent back to Toronto in 1999, for Jason Podollan and a third round selection. In 2001, Perreault signed with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent, remaining three seasons before sitting out the lockout year of 2005, after which he signed with the Nashville Predators, with whom he scored 57 points, his NHL career high.

He signed after that single season with the Phoenix Coyotes and was selected to play in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game. On February 27, 2007, Perreault, packaged with a fifth round draft pick, was traded from the Coyotes to Toronto for defencemen Brendan Bell and a second round draft pick, marking his third round of duty with the Maple Leafs.

Perreault signed with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent on July 1, 2007. However, with his scoring skills diminishing, he retired at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Coaching career On October 4, 2013 − one day ahead of the second game of the season - the Blackhawks announced they had hired Perreault to help the team improve its face-off success rate.

Personal life Perreault has four children, sons Jacob, Jeremy and Gabe, and a daughter Liliane. All of his children also play ice hockey.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1987–88 Cantons de L'Est Cantonniers QMAAA 42 70 57 127 14 8 12 10 22 6 1988–89 Trois-Rivières Draveurs QMJHL 70 53 55 108 48 4 0 0 0 7 1989–90 Trois-Rivières Draveurs QMJHL 63 51 63 114 75 7 6 5 11 19 1990–91 Trois-Rivières Draveurs QMJHL 67 87 98 185 103 6 4 7 11 6 1991–92 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 62 38 38 76 19 16 7 8 15 4 1992–93 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 79 49 46 95 56 9 4 5 9 2 1993–94 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 62 45 60 105 38 11 12 6 18 14 1993–94 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 13 3 3 6 0 — — — — — 1994–95 Phoenix Roadrunners IHL 68 51 48 99 52 — — — — — 1994–95 Los Angeles Kings NHL 26 2 5 7 20 — — — — — 1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 25 24 49 16 — — — — — 1996–97 Los Angeles Kings NHL 41 11 14 25 20 — — — — — 1997–98 Los Angeles Kings NHL 79 28 20 48 32 4 1 2 3 6 1998–99 Los Angeles Kings NHL 64 10 17 27 30 — — — — — 1998–99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 12 7 8 15 12 17 3 6 9 6 1999–00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 58 18 27 45 22 1 0 1 1 0 2000–01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 76 24 28 52 52 11 2 3 5 4 2001–02 Montreal Canadiens NHL 82 27 29 56 40 11 3 5 8 0 2002–03 Montreal Canadiens NHL 73 24 22 46 30 — — — — — 2003–04 Montreal Canadiens NHL 69 16 15 31 40 9 2 2 4 0 2005–06 Nashville Predators NHL 69 22 35 57 30 1 0 0 0 2 2006–07 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 49 19 14 33 30 — — — — — 2006–07 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 17 2 3 5 4 — — — — — 2007–08 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 53 9 5 14 24 — — — — — NHL totals 859 247 269 516 402 54 11 19 30 18

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1996 Canada WC 8 6 3 9 0Senior totals 8 6 3 9 0

Awards and honours Award Year QMJHL Michel Bergeron Trophy (Offensive Rookie of the Year) 1989 Canadian Major Junior - Rookie of the Year 1989 First All-Star Team 1991 Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy (Most Gentlemanly Player) 1991 Jean Beliveau Trophy (Leading scorer) 1991 Michel Briere Trophy (Most Valuable Player) 1991 World Championships Best Forward 1996NHL NHL All-Star Game 2007