Réal Cloutier

Réal Cloutier, born on July 30, 1956, is a distinguished former professional ice hockey player from Canada. He made a significant impact in the World Hockey Association (WHA) as a winger for the Quebec Nordiques, where he showcased his exceptional talent over five prolific seasons.

In his rookie season, Cloutier made an impressive debut, scoring twenty-six goals in sixty-three games. His performance only improved as he entered his prime, highlighted by a remarkable sixty-goal season in 1975. The following year, he reached new heights, netting sixty-six goals and providing seventy-five assists, culminating in a career-high total of one hundred fourteen points. This stellar performance helped propel the Nordiques to the Avco Cup Finals, where they ultimately claimed their only championship.

Cloutier continued to shine, recording two additional one hundred-point seasons, including a career-best seventy-five goals in the 1978-79 season. Over his WHA career, he played in three hundred sixty-nine games, amassing an impressive five hundred sixty-six points. When the Nordiques transitioned to the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1979, Cloutier maintained his scoring prowess, netting forty-two goals in sixty-seven games during his first NHL season.

However, injuries plagued him in the subsequent seasons, limiting his output to eighty combined goals over his last three years with Quebec. In 1983, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, but his time there was marred by challenges with ice time, resulting in a total of twenty-four goals in eighty-one games across two seasons.