• CHL First All-Star Team (1978)
• AHL First All-Star Team (1983)

While growing up in Summerside, PEI, Gerard Gallant was always known as one of the most prolific goal scorers in the city's minor hockey system. While playing for the Summerside Crystals of the Junior B league at the age of 16 he netted 60 goals and 115 points in just 45 games. His 90 minutes in penalties also showed he was not going to be bullied out of his game.

In 1980-81 he joined Sherbrooke of the QMJHL and responded with a 48-goal, 101-point season. The next year Gallant was an integral force in leading Sherbrooke into the Memorial Cup, eventually won by the OMJHL's Kitchener Rangers. Gallant was sent to St. Jean for the start of the 1982-83 season, but before it was over he was playing with Verdun and again found himself in the thick of a Memorial Cup championship. However, once again his club came up short on the national stage. During the regular season he had scored 54 goals and 128 points between the two clubs.

Gallant turned pro in 1983-84 with the Adirondack Red Wings. He had been selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft in the sixth round, 107th overall. While playing in Adirondack Gallant continued to show a tenacity that won over the Detroit brass. His 195 minutes in penalties was proof he was up for the rough and tumble NHL and he earned a full-time roster spot with Detroit in 1984-85. Perhaps the low point in his career came that same year when he suffered a broken jaw in a fight against Minnesota's Dirk Graham.

He scored over 70 points four times while a member of the Red Wings and his most productive offensive season came in 1988-89 when he had 39 goals and 93 points to go along with 230 penalty minutes. Detroit's coach at the time, Jacques Demers, said he thought Gallant's penchant for fighting was the only thing holding him back from a 50-goal season

After a successful nine years in Detroit, he inked a free-agent contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1993. He played with the club for parts of two seasons until suffering a career-ending back in jury during a practice in November 1995 as a member of the IHL's Detroit Vipers. Gallant logged 615 games in the NHL, scoring 211 goals and 480 points while accumulating 1,674 minutes in penalties.

Gallant returned to the ranks of professional hockey in the fall of 1999, becoming an assistant coach with the AHL's Louisville Panthers before taking on the same duties with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2001-02. After parts of three seasons as an assistant in Columbus, Gallant became the head coach midway through the 2003-04 season.