What happened to Daigle?

[Oilers1*]

Just for a comparison, Guy Lafleur had 21 goals & a similiar point total at the same age. But Daigle was being called a bust, a failure, wasted draft pick, blah, blah, blah.

Of course he has to shoulder some of the blame but I believe he was in a near no-win position from the outset. It can be a somewhat similiar postion for anyone drafted first overall but I believe Daigle is the posterboy for how the combination of hype/inflated expectations and putting a young prospect in a poor development situation leads to poor results.

Good comparison there with Lafleur and Daigle. In fairness, though, Roy McGregor touched on these similarities quite often during Daigle's early years and always made a point about how Lafleur suffered a helluva lot of pressure and criticism for being a bust in his early years (up to and including recieving death threats).

The pressure never broke Lafleur, so I don't think Daigle can use that excuse.

(and I'm writing this realizing that you brought up many factors contributing to Daigle's decline but there are alot of people who entirely blame the Ottawa media. ALL first overall picks face alot of pressure)