 Perreault was acquired by the team with their first draft pick of their inaugural season in the 1970 Entry Draft . Martin followed the next year as the team 's first pick in 1971 . Both players were drafted after three seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens . Robert was acquired in a trade on March 4 , 1972 , for Eddie Shack . He played twelve games for the Sabres during the 1971 – 72 NHL season . Perreault played his entire 17 @-@ season career with the Sabres . Martin played all but 4 games of his injury @-@ shortened 11 @-@ season career with the Sabres . The trio played together as a line most of the time until the fall of 1979 . On October 5 , 1979 , Scotty Bowman traded Robert to the Colorado Rockies for defenseman John Van <unk> . This ended the French Connection era in Buffalo , but not before the trio became the first three players to accumulate 200 goals in a Sabres uniform . Each player 's jerseys were retired ; Perreault 's # 11 was retired during a ceremony on October 17 , 1990 , and Robert 's # 14 and Martin 's # 7 were retired on November 15 , 1995 . All three numbers hang together from the First Niagara Center under a French Connection banner . 
