PORTLAND — On January 8, 2022, Jacob Perreault lived his dream.
That’s the day he appeared in a game for the Anaheim Ducks, the team that drafted Perreault in the first round, 27th overall, in 2020. He saw 11 minutes, five seconds of ice time.
He’s been chasing those 11 minutes and change ever since. Once you’ve tasted the NHL, it lingers. It always seems right around the corner, even when he’s now skating for the Maine Mariners, two long stops below the NHL.
“I hit the post a couple times. I got a lot of good chances. It was really cool. I got to play with (Trevor) Zegras and (Sonny) Milano, two really good skill guys, top NHL players,” Perreault said following the Mariners’ home opener, a 4-0 loss to the Reading Royals. “It made it a lot easier for me to make plays. What Z told me before the game is, if I’m ever in trouble, just throw (the puck) at him and he’ll figure it out.”
Pro sports careers are often at the whim of things beyond the athletes’ control. Perreault was a solid player for the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, but new Ducks management came around, and maybe the player who was a first-round pick doesn’t quite fit into the plans anymore. Injuries slow you down. Perreault had shoulder surgery in the summer of 2024. You start to bounce from team to team, from league to league.
Rick Kowalsky, Maine’s first-year coach and general manager, said Perreault is a carefree kid, and that his maturity is a work in progress. He points at Perreault’s effort in the Mariners’ season-opening 5-0 win at Worcester, in which he scored a goal and dished two assists.
“You see the skill. Obviously, there’s other parts of his game that continue to grow. He’s a great kid,” Kowalsky said. “He’s probably taken his lumps the last couple years, being a first round pick and things not working out his way.”
Perreault was traded twice in 2024, first from Anaheim to Montreal, where he played for the team’s AHL affiliate in Laval, Quebec, as well as five game with Trois-Rivieres, Maine’s rival in the ECHL. In December of last year, Montreal traded Perreault to Edmonton. After playing 38 games for the Oilers’ AHL club in Bakersfield, California, Perreault was a free agent this summer. He signed with the Providence Bruins in early September, and the team sent him to Maine.
“I’m just happy I got the opportunity to play somewhere,” he said. “I’m trying to feel the game again, because the last couple of years I haven’t been playing as much. It’s a big thing coming down here and getting my stamina up, but I’ve liked it a lot.”
His father, Yanic Perreault, had a 14-year NHL career, playing for six teams and scoring 247 career goals. Jacob saw the work that goes into playing pro hockey. His dad’s offensive flair and creativity is something Perreault looks to emulate.
“Sometimes people wonder what I’m doing. I’m using deception or trying to fake people out, things they’ve never seen before. I don’t mind being seen as different,” he said. “I’ve had some coaches tell me I’ve got to be predictable for my teammates. But I feel if I’m too predictable for my teammates, I’m predictable for the other team.”
Perreault was drafted in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t get to hear his name called in a packed arena, then walk across the stage in his new Ducks jersey. His draft was essentially a Zoom. Perreault was at a family friend’s restaurant in Magog, Quebec. The lack of pomp and circumstance didn’t make the moment any less sweet.
Getting back to the NHL, getting more than that one game three years ago, that would make the journey that brought Perreault to Maine this season all worth it.
“I’m still 23 years old. I feel like I’m so much better than when I got drafted. It’s just about getting that opportunity at these levels,” Perreault said.
The talent is obvious, and the opportunity is there. Now Perreault needs to combine them, and that’s the challenge.
