Gilbert Perreault vs. Jean Ratelle
I think it's worth comparing these two head-to-head since they spent the most important decade of their careers playing against each other. Here's one way to look at them:
Time spent together in the NHL
Perreault came into the league as an exceptional rookie in 1970-71. At the same time, Ratelle had just turned 30 and was established as a late-blooming PPG player.
Here are their PPG results per year, hopefully giving a sense of their respective arcs through the 1970s:
Player
|
1971
|
1972
|
1973
|
1974
|
1975
|
1976
|
1977
|
1978
|
1979
|
1980
|
1981
|
Total
Perreault|.92|.97|1.13|.93|
1.41
|
1.41
|1.19|
1.13
|
1.08
|
1.33
|
1.05
|
1.15
Ratelle|.92|
1.73
|
1.21
|
.99
|1.15|1.31|
1.21
|1.05|.90|1.09|.79|1.13
^ Most of these were complete seasons, but I decided to use PPG in order to compensate for a few 50-60 game seasons sprinkled in.
Overall, they are very close to even as scorers. Ratelle really exploded right around the time Perreault was breaking into the league, and Perreault countered with his two peak seasons not long after. If you mentally reorder their scoring from highest-to-lowest, it's evident that neither has a huge advantage over the other.
Here are their respective awards in each year.
Year
|
Perreault
|
Ratelle
1971|Calder|Masterton
1972||4th in Hart voting (15%), 2nd AS, Byng, Lindsay/Pearson
1973|5th in Hart voting (6%), 3rd AS, Byng|
1974||
1975|3rd AS|
1976||8th in Hart voting (2%), 2nd AS|6th in Hart voting (2%), Byng
1977|7th in Hart voting (5%), 2nd AS|8th in Hart voting (3%)
1978||marginal Selke votes
1979||marginal Selke votes
1980|3rd AS|
1981||
Playoffs
Year
|
Perreault
|
Ratelle
1971|none|13GP, 2-9-11
1972|none|6GP, 0-1-1
1973|6GP, 3-7-10|10GP, 2-7-9
1974|none|13GP, 2-4-6
1975|17GP, 6-9-15|3GP, 1-5-6
1976|9GP, 4-4-8|12GP, 8-8-16
1977|6GP, 1-8-9|14GP, 5-12-17
1978|8GP, 3-2-5|15GP, 3-7-10
1979|3GP, 1-0-1|11GP, 7-6-13
1980|14GP, 10-11-21|3GP, 0-0-0
1981|8GP, 2-10-12|3GP, 0-0-0
Total
|
71GP, 30-51-81
|
103GP, 30-59-89
I can forgive Ratelle somewhat for his 1980s playoffs, since he was around 40 years old and playing a depth role. But even if you remove those 6 games, and the 6 in which he played through a fractured ankle in '72, he still falls way behind Perreault as a playoff scorer. Hell, you could even speculate that an uninjured Ratelle would have picked up a bunch of extra points in 1972, and he would STILL look bad by this metric. He just had that many weak playoff runs.
International
Ratelle played in only one international series, but it was an important one. In the 1972 Summit Series, he scored 1-3-4 in 6 games.
Perreault was a frequent international competitor. In '72 he scored 1-1-2 in two games. In the 1977 Canada Cup he played 7 games and tallied 4-4-8, then picked up 1-1-2 in three games in the 1979 Challenge Cup. Unfortunately his 1981 Canada Cup was cut short by an ankle injury after he had scored 3-6-9 in only 4 games.
Since the '72 Summit Series against the Soviets was both their only shared tournament AND the highest-profile, here are the granular details of their performances:
Game 1 - USSR 7, Canada 3
Ratelle played and did not score.
Perreault scratched.
Game 2 - Canada 4, USSR 1
Both scratched.
Game 3 - Canada 4, USSR 4
Ratelle scored to make it 2-1 Canada in the first period, jumping into transition on a turnover and executing a give-and-go with Cournoyer to break in alone and roof it on Tretiak.
Perreault scratched.
Game 4 - USSR 5, Canada 3
edit: Perreault played and scored on a beautiful rush the entire length of the ice, deking past Martynyuk and Anisin, going wide on Paladiev and banking the puck off Vasiliev and into the net.
Ratelle scratched.
Game 5 - USSR 5, Canada 4
Perreault made a brilliant assist to Parise for the opening goal, deking through Viktor Kuzkin's feet and then making a perfect backhand pass to the slot.
Ratelle played but did not score.
Game 6 - Canada 3, USSR 2
Ratelle played and did not score.
Perreault scratched.
Game 7 - Canada 4, USSR 3
With the game tied 2-2 early in the 3rd period, Ratelle got a stick on Boris Mikhailov's pass behind the net, slowing it down just enough for Rod Gilbert to pick it off and bring it in front for a go-ahead goal.
Perreault scratched.
Game 8 - Canada 6, USSR 5
Trailing 2-1 late in the first period, and in transition off a Soviet turnover, Ratelle played the pivot on a give-and-go with Brad Park that ended in a point-blank tying goal.
Trailing again midway through the game, Ratelle cleanly won an offensive draw that led directly to Bill White's tying goal.
Perreault scratched.
NOTE: Ratelle was being used primarily in a defensive role. I don't know for certain, but given the timing of the series in his career I doubt very much that Perreault was expected to play a two-way game. Keep that in mind when considering who was being scratched, and how they were producing offensively.
Two-way games
Perreault was notorious early in his career for neglecting defense, but it was well demonstrated upthread that he matured into a more well-rounded game as time passed.
Ratelle on the other hand was known as an excellent defensive player, more on the level of a Delvecchio or Francis in terms of playing a clean two-way game.
Time spent apart in the NHL
Ratelle
He came into the league at about the same time as Rod Gilbert, but Gilbert made the Rangers' lineup more quickly while Ratelle spent some extra time getting AHL seasoning. When called up, Ratelle quickly became Gilbert's center and the two looked promising. This scheme was derailed when both suffered serious back injuries in 1966, leading to essentially a lost season for Ratelle as he worked his way back from spinal fusion surgery. When he finally got healthy, the league had expanded and Ratelle spent the next 3 years as a PPG scorer. Among centers, he was behind only Esposito, Mikita and Beliveau, and slightly ahead of Delvecchio during this period (1968-70).
Perreault
Perreault led the Sabres in scoring all the way up to 1985. He was only eclipsed on his team in his penultimate season, and even at that he scored 60-in-72 in 1986. Only Dionne and Robinson played so well at a comparable age. He also continued to be a reliable playoff scorer during this period. I think it's been pretty well demonstrated in this thread that he also matured into a respectable defensive player at the same time, which flatters his scoring consistency. It's perhaps also noteworthy that Perreault was the veteran center presence alongside emerging offensive talents in the form of a young Dave Andreychuk and Phil Housley.
Summary
The biggest arguments for Perreault are:
- The playoff comparison, where he was quite easily the more reliable offensive presence.
- Despite having
perhaps a very slightly lower peak, he was more consistent throughout a nearly equal body of work (I was surprised that their GP were so close, considering Ratelle's legendary longevity as a good player).
- Ratelle was getting more team help, as evidenced by the Rangers'/Bruins' team and goal-scoring finishes compared to the Sabres in nearly any given year.
The big arguments for Ratelle:
- Truly exceptional longevity as a contributor. His GP numbers are hurt by injuries as a young player -- he was still a pretty solid player at nearly age 40. He was close to Jagr/Chelios type territory, at a time when that simply didn't happen.
- A very strong defensive game that exceeds Perreault's late-career conversion. One could argue that Ratelle was the more valuable overall player once you look beyond scoring figures.
- His peak around 1972 was really, really high when you compare it to other guys who have similar longevity.
