Gilles Thibaudeau

Gilles Thibaudeau (born March 4, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 119 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Islanders.

Thibaudeau made a very unusual move to the pros as he was signed straight out of Junior "B". He played for the St. Antoine Saints in 1983-84, scoring 140 points in just 38 games. The Montreal Canadiens signed him as a free agent. He won the Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in the International League in 1984-85.

He finally got a callup to the Canadiens in 1986-87, scoring 1 goal and 3 assists in 9 games. The following season he scored a very good 5 goals and 6 assists in just 17 season games, and 3 goals and 3 assists in just 8 playoff games. This earned him a spot on the 1988-89 roster, but only scored 6 goals and 6 assists in 32 games. The Canadiens then gave up on him. The New York Islanders signed him as a free agent in September, 1989.

Just three months later, Thibaudeau was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. After some modest initial success with the Leafs, Gilles was sent down to the Newmarket Saints. He split both the 1989-90 and the 1990-91 seasons between the Leafs amd the Saints.

Starting in 1992, Gilles moved to Switzerland. He played there for ten seasons (1994-2000]]. Gilles played for the Laval Chiefs in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey and retired in 2002.

Awards

 * 1984-85 Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy