Mathieu Perreault retires after 13 NHL seasons

Longtime National Hockey League forward Mathieu Perreault has retired and will join TVA Sports as a broadcaster, the network announced Wednesday.

Perreault, 34, will make regular appearances on TVA show La Poche Bleue, broadcast on weekdays and hosted by Stephane Gonzalez.

He’ll be joined on the program by fellow NHL alumni Guillaume Latendresse, Maxim Lapierre, Simon Gagne, Steve Begin, Louis Robitaille, Joel Bouchard and Michel Therrien as well as analyst Justine St-Martin.

Perreault made his NHL debut during the 2009–10 season as a member of the Washington Capitals. The 2006 sixth-round pick spent the first four years of his career with his draft team before being traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2013.

After just one season in Anaheim, Perreault signed with the Winnipeg Jets, with whom he spent the majority of his career. The 5’10”, 188-pound forward played seven seasons in Winnipeg, surpassing 40 points three times and helping the team reach the 2018 Western Conference Final.

Perreault joined the Montreal Canadiens for the 2021–22 season, which would be his last in the NHL. Last October, the Drummondville product became the first Quebec-born player to score a hat trick with the Canadiens since Vincent Damphousse in 1998. However, Perreault finished the season with just four goals and nine points in 25 games.

A veteran of 708 NHL games over 13 regular seasons, Perreault amassed 143 goals and 352 points in his tenures with Washington, Anaheim, Winnipeg and Montreal. He added five goals and 16 points in 51 career playoff contests.

Perreault ranks eighth on the Jets’ all-time team leaderboard with 455 games played and ninth with 88 goals and 231 points. His 143 assists are enough for seventh in Jets history.