| Rene Robert | |
| |
| Position | Centre/right wing |
| Shoots | Right |
| Height Weight |
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Teams | Toronto Maple Leafs Pittsburgh Penguins Buffalo Sabres Colorado Rockies |
| Nationality |  Canadian
|
| Born | December 31, 1948, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | June 22, 2021 (aged 72), Port Charlotte, Florida, U.S. |
| Pro Career | 1970 – 1982 |
René Robert ( (December 31, 1948 – June 22, 2021)) was a Canadian professional right winger who played 12 seasons in the NHL between 1970 and 1982. Robert was selected to 2 National Hockey League All-Star Games (1972–73, 1974–75) and was selected as the as the Official Second NHL All-Star Team right wing in 1974–75.
Robert played 744 career NHL games, scoring 284 goals and 418 assists for 702 points. His best offensive season was the 1974–75 season while with the Buffalo Sabres, when he scored 40 goals and 60 assists for 100 points, the club's first 100 point season by an individual. Robert's best years were when he played on The French Connection line in Buffalo with Gilbert Perreault and Rick Martin. On October 5, 1979, Scotty Bowman sent Robert to the Colorado Rockies for defenceman John Van Boxmeer, effectively ending the French Connection line forever. His number, 14, was retired from the Buffalo Sabres on November 15, 1995 along with Rick Martin. They were reunited with Perreault whose number was retired in a 1990 ceremony.
Later life[]
After retiring from professional ice hockey, Robert acted as president of the NHL Alumni Association.[1] He was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame along with Perreault and Martin in 1989.[2] His number 14 was retired by the Sabres on November 15, 1995,[3] along with Rick Martin's number 7 jersey. They were reunited with Perreault whose number was retired in a 1990 ceremony.[4]
Robert divided his time between Western New York and Florida. The driveway at his home in Buffalo was constructed from pieces of the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium after its demolition in 2009. He had a heart attack on June 18, 2021, and was placed on life support.[5] He died four days later on June 22 at a hospital in Port Charlotte, Florida, at the age of 72.[6][7]
Career statistics[]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1967–68 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 14 | ||
| 1968–69 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 59 | 21 | 30 | 51 | 57 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 1969–70 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1969–70 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 49 | 23 | 40 | 63 | 57 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970–71 | Phoenix Roadrunners | WHL | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 7 | ||
| 1970–71 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 58 | 26 | 36 | 62 | 185 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970–71 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971–72 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 49 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 42 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971–72 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 12 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1972–73 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 75 | 40 | 43 | 83 | 83 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | ||
| 1973–74 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 76 | 21 | 44 | 65 | 71 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1974–75 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 74 | 40 | 60 | 100 | 75 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 16 | ||
| 1975–76 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 72 | 35 | 52 | 87 | 53 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 1976–77 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 80 | 33 | 40 | 73 | 46 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 20 | ||
| 1977–78 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 67 | 25 | 48 | 73 | 25 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 23 | ||
| 1978–79 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 68 | 22 | 40 | 62 | 46 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1979–80 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 69 | 28 | 35 | 63 | 79 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1980–81 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 28 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1980–81 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 14 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1981–82 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 55 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 744 | 284 | 418 | 702 | 597 | 50 | 22 | 19 | 41 | 73 | ||||
External links[]
| Preceded by Mike Christie |
Colorado Rockies captains 1980–81 |
Succeeded by Lanny McDonald |
| Colorado Rockies captains |
|---|
| Nolet • Paiement • Croteau • Christie • Robert • McDonald • Ramage |
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Rene Robert. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |
- ↑ Hornby, Lance. "French Connection winger and ex-Leaf Rene Robert dies", June 22, 2021.
- ↑ Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved on July 18, 2012.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNHL obit - ↑ "Pair of Numbers To Be Retired", Buffalo Sabres, October 16, 2005. Retrieved on June 22, 2021. Archived from the original on June 23, 2021.
- ↑ Wawrow, John. "Sabres 'French Connection' winger Rene Robert hospitalized", Associated Press, June 19, 2021.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHarrington - ↑ Wawrow, John. "Sabres 'French Connection' winger Rene Robert dies at 72", Associated Press, June 22, 2021.