Goulet scored 135 points for the Quebec Remparts during his last season of junior hockey before turning professional with the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association at age 18 as part of the Bulls policy of signing underage players, which earned them the nickname of "The Baby Bulls". Goulet would score 58 points in his only season with the Bulls, who were left behind when the WHA merged with the NHL before the next season began.
Declared eligible for the 1979 draft, Goulet was chosen by the Quebec Nordiques, who were one of the four WHA teams to be absorbed by the NHL that year.
Goulet would spend 11 seasons with the Nordiques, beginning with the 1979-80 season. His point totals would steadily increase from 54 to 71 to 84 and then finally topping 100 for the first time with 105 in 1982-83. His goal totals would also show steady progress from 22 to 32 to 42 and then finally hitting a career high with 57, the first of four consecutive 50+ goal seasons.
1983-84 was his finest offensive season with 56 goals and 65 assists for 121 points, good for third place in the NHL scoring race that season.
When is streak of 50 goal seasons ended with 49 in 1986-87, he scored 48 the following season to give him seven consecutive 40+ goal seasons.
Goulet was traded on March 5, 1990 as part of a youth movement by the horrid Nordiques, who would finish last in the league that season with 31 points, 33 behind the next worst club. He would be limited to 63 games that season, but would manage 20 goals that year, as well as the next three seasons in Chicago, giving him 14 consecutive seasons with 20 goals or more. Only in his final season of 56 games would Goulet finish with under 20 for the year.
It was on this date in 1991 that Goulet reached the 1,000 point milestone and the 1991-92 season saw Goulet join the 500 goal club. He would reach 1,000 NHL games in 1992-93 and close out his career after one more campaign which ended prematurely due to a severe concussion.
The Nordiques would retire his #16 a year after his final game in 1995 and he would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 with 1,089 NHL games played, 548 goals and 604 assists for 1,152 points.
Internationally, Goulet would play for Canada in the 1983 World Championships earning a bronze medal, both the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cups, winning the championship both times, as well as for the NHL All-Stars against the Soviet Union in Rendez-vous '87.
Today's featured jersey is a 1993-94 Chicago Blackhawks Michel Goulet jersey from his final season in the NHL. This basic style of Blackhawks jersey was first introduced in 1955 and has undergone minimal detail changes ever since. It regularly finishes at the top of "Best Jersey" lists, with it's classic Indian head logo and iconic secondary logo with the crossed tomahawks.
Today's video section begins with the Legends of Hockey profile of Goulet.
Our next videos are of the Quebec Nordiques retiring Goulet's sweater #16 in 1995. Part 1 is the raising of the banner, while Part 2 is Goulet addressing the fans in his native French.
Dasherboard: Today begins a 36 hour orgy of Olympic hockey with no less than eight single elimination playoff games today and tomorrow.
The Puck Fest kicks off with Switzerland and Belarus (USA Network) in the first game, with the winner advancing to face the #1 seeded United States tomorrow in the first game in NBC.
Canada will be looking to right their ship when they take on Germany (CNBC) for the right to face Russia tomorrow.
The third game today has the Czech Republic versus Latvia (CNBC) with the winner facing Finland and in the final game today, Slovakia battles Norway (CNBC) to get the opportunity to face Sweden.
Will there be an upset today similar to Belarus' upset over Sweden in 2002? While we consider the Switzerland vs. Belarus game to be a toss-up, the three lowest seeds, Norway, Germany and Latvia are long shots to advance, but as history shows, strange things can happen in a one-game knockout format.
Thanks for posting the videos. I had never seen the biography clip.
ReplyDeleteI grew up a Nordiques fan, while watching my hometown Red Wings flounder during the 80's. Goulet, along with Peter Stastny, were my two favorite players. I really miss watching Goulet play.