For a three year span from 1968-69 to 1970-71, Gilles Villemure probably looked to be the next big thing in goaltending. Villemure had already been in pro hockey for a decade at the time, but he put together a string of three consecutive award winning seasons. But then, Ed Giacomin and Tony Esposito got in the way.
Gilles Villemure – Junior and Minors
Gilles saw his first pro action in 1958-59 with three games in the IHL before retreating to junior hockey for the 1959-60 season. He played one year in the OHA with the Guelph Biltmores, appearing in 35 of the team’s 48 regular season games and all five in the Robertson Cup playoffs.
The Biltmores, currently the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, placed sixth in the seven team league and fell in the opening round of the playoffs to the St. Catherines Teepees. Guelph was led offensively by Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle.
Villemure showed early pro promise in 1962-63 with the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL. He played all of the team’s 70 regular season games, earning five shutouts and posting a 3.26 goals against average. Gilles was named the WHL’s rookie of the year. The Canucks placed first in the four team Northern Division and fell in the semi-finals to the Seattle Totems with the series going the full seven games.
The magic came in 1968-69 and 1969-70 in the American Hockey League with the Buffalo Bisons. It was the final two years of existence for the Bisons with the Sabres taking over in town for the 1970-71 season. It was also the final two years of minor pro hockey for Gilles.
In both seasons, Villemure won the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s MVP and the Harry ‘Hap’ Holmes Memorial Award for the goalie with the lowest GAA. To date, Gilles and Johnny Bower are the only two goalies to win the Les Cunningham on more than one occasion. Bower won the award three times. However, Bower is in the AHL Hall of Fame while Villemure is not.
In 1968-69, Villemure played in 62 of Buffalo’s regular season games with six shutouts and a 2.41 GAA. He appeared in all of the team’s six playoff games. The following year, he played in 65 regular season games, shutting out opponents eight times and posting a 2.52 GAA.
In that 1969-70 season, Fred Shero was behind the Bisons bench as Buffalo stormed through to the Calder Cup finals against the Springfield Kings. It was already known that the Bisons would not return to Buffalo the following season and the team went out in style, sweeping the Kings in four for the championship.
Gilles Villemure – NHL
Previous to 1970-71, Villemure appeared in just 13 National Hockey League games between 1963-64 and 1968-69. All 13 were played with the New York Rangers with five in 1963-64, four in 1967-68 and four again in 1968-69.
Gilles Villemure Collection
Gilles was exclusively a NHL goalie from 1970-71 until retiring after the 1976-77 season. He was with the Rangers until the end of 1974-75. In his final two years, Villemure played a total of 21 games, backing up Tony Esposito with the Chicago Black Hawks.
In that 1970-71 season, Gilles played 34 games for the Rangers, fairly evenly splitting duties with Ed Giacomin. He posted four shutouts and a 2.30 goals against average. Giacomin and Villemure shared the Vezina as the goaltending duo with the lowest GAA.
Only in 1974-75 did Villemure not play second fiddle to Giacomin. Gilles appeared in 45 games and put up a 3.16 GAA. Eddie played the backup role with Dunc Wilson and Curt Ridley also appearing for the Rangers.
Gilles Villemure – Rookie Card
The Gilles Villemure rookie card appears as number 46 in the 1963-64 Topps set, despite not playing his official rookie season until several years later. The card is valued at three times that of a common card. That year, the top Topps rookie cards belong to Villemure, Ed Johnston and Ed Westfall. Both Johnston and Westfall are shown with the Boston Bruins.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | A | PIM | SO | GAA |
| 1958-59 | Troy Bruins | IHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 |
| 1959-60 | Guelph Biltmores | OHA | 35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.66 |
| 1960-61 | New York Rovers | EHL | 51 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.37 |
| 1961-62 | Charlotte Checkers | EHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.00 |
| 1961-62 | Johnstown Jets | EHL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| 1961-62 | Long Island Ducks | EHL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.75 |
| 1962-63 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 70 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3.26 |
| 1963-64 | Baltimore Clippers | AHL | 66 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.91 |
| 1963-64 | New York Rangers | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 |
| 1964-65 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 60 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.46 |
| 1965-66 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 69 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.20 |
| 1966-67 | Baltimore Clippers | AHL | 70 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3.42 |
| 1967-68 | New York Rangers | NHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.40 |
| 1967-68 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 37 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2.57 |
| 1968-69 | New York Rangers | NHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 |
| 1968-69 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 62 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2.41 |
| 1969-70 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 65 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 2.52 |
| 1970-71 | New York Rangers | NHL | 34 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2.30 |
| 1971-72 | New York Rangers | NHL | 37 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2.09 |
| 1972-73 | New York Rangers | NHL | 34 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2.29 |
| 1973-74 | New York Rangers | NHL | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.53 |
| 1974-75 | New York Rangers | NHL | 45 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3.16 |
| 1975-76 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.29 |
| 1976-77 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.38 |