Alexandre Daigle : Why was he hyped so much?
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Moose Head
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Hangover from Lindros. He was the top prospect and everyone expected the next Lindros with the next top prospect. Really unfair expectations and he wilted.
jigglysquishy
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Jets4Life
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Last draft eligible players to win the scoring title were Dylan Strome (2015) and Marco Rossi (2020)
SomeDude
Registered User
I think the hype was warranted. He was clearly an insanely skilled player who didn't have the drive. He still put up pretty respectable points on some really bad teams until he eventually fizzled out. He took 2 full seasons completely off and still put up 51 points in 78 games on a pretty bad Minnesota team. He came in during the height of the clutch and grab era. He's a guy that would probably thrive in today's NHL.
Daigle had elite speed and real good hands. He was also a real good playmaker. He was probably a bit overrated as a goal scorer though.
Still despite not having the passion for the sport he was still a good second line caliber offensive player the majority of his 10 year career. I think it just goes to show how talented he was, had he had the passion and drive he'd have likely been a star.
Still despite not having the passion for the sport he was still a good second line caliber offensive player the majority of his 10 year career. I think it just goes to show how talented he was, had he had the passion and drive he'd have likely been a star.
I think the Quebec part has become a bit of an urban legend. The 1993 Draft was held in Quebec City, so the sexy headline was that the Nordiques wanted to get Daigle who could be their 'hometown' star that would help them get a new arena built. Early in the process, Quebec asked Ottawa if they'd consider moving the pick but the Sens also envisioned Daigle as their franchise guy that would help them get a new arena. Somebody uploaded the draft to YouTube and seemingly both Quebec/Ottawa GMs said that names were never discussed.
And the draft broadcast was a little bit more reserved about Daigle. Bob McKenzie compared him to LaFontaine/Sakic and cautioned that Daigle wasn't Lemieux.
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I got in a bit of rabbit hole about the #2 pick last night after Jeff Marek mentioned it in his podcast yesterday. While Quebec offering a king's ransom for the #1 pick may be a bit of fiction, in actuality they were badly trying to get #2 from San Jose because they wanted Chris Pronger to go along with all of their young forwards. Marek mentioned that San Jose interviewed Pronger pre-draft but told him that they wouldn't be taking him because they were "set" with young D. There was a split opinion within the Sharks scouting room. Some wanted Pronger, some wanted Paul Kariya, but co-GM Chuck Grillo wanted Viktor Kozlov. Grillo ended up "winning."
Quebec tried to get #3 from Tampa Bay for Mike Ricci but Phil Esposito declined; Presumably Quebec would have swapped spots with San Jose for extra picks. San Jose's other co-GM Dean Lombardi set up a pre-draft meeting with Quebec to negotiate, but the Nordiques brass no-showed according to Lombardi.
Apparently right before the draft started, Quebec offered an unsigned Peter Forsberg to San Jose for the pick. San Jose turned it down, but not because of talent. After the draft, Lombardi vented to the press about Quebec's disorganization (we were only a year removed from them trading Eric Lindros twice).
Markus Naslund sued the league regarding his free agent status. Right before the 1993 Draft, the league relented and Naslund (and teammate Peter Forsberg) were designated as Group IV restricted free agents. They'd be eligible to sign offer sheets and the original team could match. But unlike Group I/II RFAs, if the original team didn't match, they'd received no compensation. The previous summer, Calgary signed Teemu Selanne to an offer which Winnipeg begrudgingly matched; Teemu would then have his 76 goal rookie season.
Lombardi implied that San Jose would have accepted Forsberg contingent on a contract being signed. But Quebec making that last second offer gave San Jose no time to negotiate with Forsberg's agent. So they couldn't risk trading the #2 pick and possibly be in a position where they couldn't financially match an offer sheet. A week later, there were rumors that the Rangers offered Forsberg a 4-5 million dollar signing bonus. Back in those days, some teams barely had a 10 million dollar payroll.
Don Nachbaur 26
Registered User
I was 15-16 yrs. old with a subscription to The Hockey News. As SomeDude said, the hype was warranted. He was sooo good, but apparently just didn't have the drive to succeed or get better. He very much could've been better not Lindros or Lemieux good, but still an excellent career. I thought he could've hit 100 points a couple of times in his career. He had a very high self-esteem and thought he was a better player than what he actually was.
He also "dated" prime Pam Anderson briefly. Which is nice for him.
Very talented player. His biggest problem was not his size, but his commitment to the game. He didn't love the game and it showed in his "compete" level.
Also Ottawa loved the idea of a bilingual superstar in their market.
Cursed Lemon
Registered Bruiser
Here's some gameplay of Daigle.
He's got good foot speed but his hockey sense seems a bit pedestrian in this video, like his brain is still in juniors.
He's got good foot speed but his hockey sense seems a bit pedestrian in this video, like his brain is still in juniors.
NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
I also think he was a bit of a casualty of the DPE given his skill set.
I have memories of much bigger players waterskiing behind him or driving him into the post of the net.
Perhaps he wasn’t wily, creative or willing enough to adapt his game but I still wonder how he would have done under today’s conditions.
He also played for one of the worst teams in NHL history given how measly the expansion draft rules were for the new franchises and it was easy for the opposition to key on him.
The league learned its lesson by allowing teams to protect fewer players and not having two teams to pick from the pool at the same time for the most part.
I have memories of much bigger players waterskiing behind him or driving him into the post of the net.
Perhaps he wasn’t wily, creative or willing enough to adapt his game but I still wonder how he would have done under today’s conditions.
He also played for one of the worst teams in NHL history given how measly the expansion draft rules were for the new franchises and it was easy for the opposition to key on him.
The league learned its lesson by allowing teams to protect fewer players and not having two teams to pick from the pool at the same time for the most part.
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I think there was a lot of wishful thinking involved. The Lindros hype was an awakening for the league and its orbiters about the marketing potential of drafts and prospects and there was a hunger to replicate it.
The top prospects in the 1992 draft (Roman Hamrlik, Alexei Yashin, Mike Rathje) did not have much marketability. Daigle was different. Not only was he an exceptional junior player with an exciting style of play, but he was also good looking, charismatic... and confident enough to occasionally stray from the hockey star’s big book of cliches. Think Jeremy Roenick but more likable.
So, yes, he was a great prospect. Transplant him and his achievements to later drafts and he’s probably a threat to go first more often than not. But a large portion of his hype came down to timing and perceived marketability.
The top prospects in the 1992 draft (Roman Hamrlik, Alexei Yashin, Mike Rathje) did not have much marketability. Daigle was different. Not only was he an exceptional junior player with an exciting style of play, but he was also good looking, charismatic... and confident enough to occasionally stray from the hockey star’s big book of cliches. Think Jeremy Roenick but more likable.
So, yes, he was a great prospect. Transplant him and his achievements to later drafts and he’s probably a threat to go first more often than not. But a large portion of his hype came down to timing and perceived marketability.
vadim sharifijanov
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- Oct 10, 2007
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i remember the 1993 WJC and it was clear as day to anyone watching that daigle was not in kariya's postal code as a talent.
what could daigle with his head screwed on straight have been? i want to say a rich man's scott young? given that he would have played his prime in the DPE, that probably means he scores annually in the mid-to-high 30s and in a good year is in the 40s and in an everything-goes-right career year flirts with 50.
but looking at the drafts around him, he obviously wasn't mario or lindros. but was he as good as pierre turgeon? i don't think so. maybe he could have been pre-hitchcock modano? but then you have to remember that pre-hitchcock modano was modano with daigle's commitment and attitude issues, and hall of fame modano was modano with his priorities in the right place. which means that daigle with everything going well is modano underachieving, ie, as a talent daigle wasn't at modano's level either.
what could daigle with his head screwed on straight have been? i want to say a rich man's scott young? given that he would have played his prime in the DPE, that probably means he scores annually in the mid-to-high 30s and in a good year is in the 40s and in an everything-goes-right career year flirts with 50.
but looking at the drafts around him, he obviously wasn't mario or lindros. but was he as good as pierre turgeon? i don't think so. maybe he could have been pre-hitchcock modano? but then you have to remember that pre-hitchcock modano was modano with daigle's commitment and attitude issues, and hall of fame modano was modano with his priorities in the right place. which means that daigle with everything going well is modano underachieving, ie, as a talent daigle wasn't at modano's level either.
JackSlater
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- Apr 27, 2010
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People, media especially, wanted the excitement that came with the Lindros hype and Daigle was an excellent prospect with a flashy game. Realistically, with the right attitude Daigle still could have been a star player.
Troubadour
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- Feb 23, 2018
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He started off pretty hot. In his first 6 NHL games, he scored 5 goals and 11 points. Up until that point, he followed the script. He skated well and he was no slouch offensively, but the NHL teams figured him out real quick and he had nothing more to offer and no drive to improve/adjust/change. About a quarter of season in, he was overtaken by Yashin/Kudelski and got convincingly left behind with no signs he could rally.
I believe that the no heart/no passion narrative formed on the go, as a coping mechanism. Perhaps reality was what disposed him of the passion, because reality made it very clear he would no longer excel as much as he used to with the effort he was putting in. So, he was one of the guys who have so much going for them early on that as soon as they encounter any snag, they are in serious trouble, give up easily, and tend to disappoint.
vadim sharifijanov
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might he also have been very quickly solved by the league?
in his first two months RNH was scoring at over a pt/game and then he never returned to that level until last month
iirc yak also began his career on a scoring run he never recaptured
Some surface level statistical comparison for fun:
DRAFT -1
Daigle:
66-35-75-110 (involved in 46% of his team's goals)
Turgeon:
69-47-67-114 (34%)
Modano:
70-32-30-62 (18%)
DRAFT
Daigle:
53-45-92-137 (involved in 38% of his team's goals)
Turgeon:
58-69-85-154 (37%)
Modano:
65-47-80-127 (34%)
DRAFT +1
Daigle (NHL):
84-20-31-51 (involved in 25% of his team's goals)
Turgeon (NHL):
76-14-28-42 (15%)
Modano (Junior):
41-39-66-105 (35%)
DRAFT +2
Daigle (NHL):
47-16-21-37 (involved in 32% of his team's goals)
80-28-36-64 (Hockey-Reference Adjusted)
Turgeon (NHL):
80-34-54-88 (30%)
80-28-44-72 (Hockey-Reference Adjusted)
Modano (NHL):
80-29-46-75 (26%)
80-24-38-62 (Hockey-Reference Adjusted)
Things obviously diverge quite a bit from there. I decided to calculate what percentage of goals each player was involved as a way to represent team depth and very roughly adjust for scoring across the junior leagues.
SwedishFire
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- Mar 3, 2011
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Canadians always needs a new posterboy.
He dud scored a lot of points.
And he was a bit french canadian, coming from the league that produced Lemieux, it wss much of a need of a new posterguy.
He had speed, but that was almost all he got.
SwedishFire
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- Mar 3, 2011
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I would say this. But there was signs already at junior tourments that he was a no spectacular player. He didnt impress at all, evwn if he had a lot of opportunities. A very soft player to boot.
BraveCanadian
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- Jun 30, 2010
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Daigle was fast, flashy, and skilled with good size. If he had been passionate about hockey he would have been a upper level NHLer.
It was no different than the hype that accompanies the top prospect in any given year, and this board is a testament to that.
It was no different than the hype that accompanies the top prospect in any given year, and this board is a testament to that.
crobro
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- Aug 8, 2008
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It was an outright hockey market manipulation by the Hockey card companies at that point.Upper Deck,Tops,etc couldn’t resist putting everything behind a photogenic hockey player in a nurses unform.
The card companies carried more clout at that point then most people seem to remember,photo shoots etc endorsement fees were flying in from every direction.
The card companies carried more clout at that point then most people seem to remember,photo shoots etc endorsement fees were flying in from every direction.
It is always said that he didn't have the passion or drive to become a real star in the NHL. Maybe that's true but I find it interesting that after his NHL career he went on to play five more seasons in Switzerland and retired at 35 which is not young for a pro hockey player. If he didn't care much about hockey why did he continue to play in Europe?
BraveCanadian
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