ALEXANDRE DAIGLE

'Alexandre Daigle' (born February 7, 1975 in Laval, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was drafted first overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He is often listed among the all time draft busts in sports history.^[1]

Contents

NHL career

Transactions

Career Statistics

Awards

Trivia

References

External links

NHL career

Daigle was considered as a promising prospect. The Senators were even accused of deliberately losing late in the season to draft him, which prompted an investigation by the league. When the expansion team finished last, they drafted Daigle over future NHL superstars Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya who were picked second and fourth, respectively. He also uttered the infamous comment "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." (Ironically, the Senators had drafted Alexei Yashin second overall in 1992.) Daigle also received the largest starting salary in league history (five-year, $12.25 million), which lead to the introduction of a rookie salary cap a few years later.
Daigle never measured up to his potential, nor expectations throughout his stints. He was frequently criticized for lack of effort and motivation, partially because of his lucrative and long-term contract, and he was outshone by Russian centre Alexei Yashin in every season that they were teammates. Ironically, management continued to support Daigle over Yashin, not only giving Daigle a large rookie salary but also touting him over Yashin for the Calder Trophy (though Yashin ending up receiving a nomination instead of Daigle).
Due to management's continued support of Daigle despite his underperformance, an angered Yashin threatened to hold out in the 1995-96 season unless his contract was raised to a level similar to Daigle's. After 4.5 years and only 74 goals, the fans and management in Ottawa turned against Daigle and he was then traded.
Early in 1997-98, the Senators gave up on Daigle and shipped him off in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers which saw Vaclav Prospal and Pat Falloon head to Ottawa. He played a total of 68 games with the Flyers, scoring just 12 goals before they gave up on him being a late bloomer. The Flyers managed to unload Daigle on the Edmonton Oilers in January 1999, but later that same day they shipped him off to Tampa Bay for Alexander Selivanov. Daigle's career lasted all of 32 games in west Florida. He collected six goals and six assists for 12 points.
The New York Rangers brought him to town as a reclamation project, sending cash to the Lightning, but they, too, realized this one-time junior superstar was not living up to the expectations. In 58 games with the Blueshirts, Daigle scored just eight times and assisted on 18 others for 26 points.
Daigle was out of hockey by the age of 25, out of teams willing to take a chance on him, and in fact, by his own admission said he had no desire to play the game anymore.
Following after a two-year absence from the game where he tried to pursue a career in Hollywood, Daigle was wanted to give hockey another opportunity. In the summer of 2002 Daigle contacted numerous teams looking for an invitation to training camp and with some teams showing interest, he felt the ideal fit for his game was that of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Daigle would lead the Penguins in pre-season scoring and had earned himself a roster spot for with the team to start the season in Pittsburgh.
Although, Daigle impressed in training camp he was unable to bring his game to the regular season and spent a better part of the season with the team's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. After being released by the Penguins, Daigle signed as a free-agent with the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2003.
Upon his arrival in Minnesota, Daigle impressed the Wild coaching staff enough to earn a roster spot on opening night. Over the course of the 2003-2004 regular season, Daigle managed to duplicate his career high point total, finishing the campaign with 51 points (20-31-51), which was also enough to lead the team in scoring. During this season he was also the Wild's nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, given annually to an NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
On the 6th of March 2006, Daigle was waived by Minnesota and reassigned to their AHL affiliate Houston Aeros. Daigle did not play a game for the Aeros, and was subsequently loaned to the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL on the 13th of March in 2006 in exchange for forward Brendan Bernakevitch.
On the 5th of May 2006, Daigle signed a 2-year contract with Swiss top team HC Davos. Seven months later Daigle re-signed with the squad for a 2-year contract extension.

Transactions

★ January 17, 1998- Traded by the Ottawa Senators to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Vaclav Prospal, Pat Falloon and Dallas' 1998 2nd round draft choice.

★ January 29, 1999- Traded by the Philadelphia Flyers to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko.

★ January 29, 1999- Traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Alexander Selivanov.

★ October 3, 1999- Traded by the Tampa Bay Lightning to the New York Rangers in exchange for cash.

★ August 13, 2002- Signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

★ September 30, 2003- Signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild.

Career Statistics

                                  Regular Season                  Playoffs

Season  Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM    GP   G   A    Pts  PIM

1990-91 Laval-Laurentides       QAAA  42   50  60   110  98     13   5   9    14   23

1991-92 Victoriaville Tigres    QMJHL 66   35  75   110  63     --   --  --   --   --

1992-93 Victoriaville Tigres    QMJHL 53   45  92   137  85     6    5   6    11   4

1993-94 Ottawa Senators         NHL   84   20  31   51   40     --   --  --   --   --

1995    Ottawa Senators         NHL   47   16  21   37   14     --   --  --   --   --

1995-96 Ottawa Senators         NHL   50   5   12   17   24     --   --  --   --   --

1996-97 Ottawa Senators         NHL   82   26  25   51   33     7    0   0    0    2

1997-98 Ottawa/Philadelphia     NHL   75   16  26   42   14     --   --  --   --   --

1998-99 Philadelphia/Tampa Bay  NHL   63   9   8    17   8      5    0   2    2    0

1999-00 New York Rangers        NHL   58   8   18   26   23     --   --  --   --   --

        Hartford Wolf Pack      AHL   16   6   13   19   4      --   --  --   --   --

2002-03 Pittsburgh Penguins     NHL   33   4   3    7    8      --   --  --   --   --

        WB/Scranton Penguins    AHL   40   9   29   38   18     4    0   1    1    0

2003-04 Minnesota Wild          NHL   78   20  31   51   14     --   --  --   --   --

2004-05 HC Forward Morges  	SWI-2 --   --  --   --   --     2    1   1    2    0

2005-06 Minnesota Wild          NHL   46   5   23   28   12     --   --  --   --   --

2006-07 HC Davos                SWI   44   22  39   61   44     18   4   9    13   6

                   NHL Totals         616  129 198  327  190

Awards

★ CHL - Top Draft Prospect (Canadian Major Junior)(1992-93)

★ QMJHL - Michael Bossy Trophy (Top Draft Prospect)(1992-93)

★ QMJHL - First All-Star Team (1992-93)

★ CHL - Rookie of the Year (Canadian Major Junior) (1991-92)

★ QMJHL - Michel Bergeron Trophy (Top Rookie Forward) (1991-92)

★ QMJHL - Second All-Star Team (1991-92)

Trivia

★ In 1998, Daigle briefly dated actress Pamela Anderson.

★ He created an event promotion company, Impostor Entertainment, with former Montreal Expos pitcher Derek Aucoin. Their first project was a concert featuring Sheryl Crow during a Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

★ In an interview to national television broadcaster Radio-Canada, Daigle said he never wanted to play hockey, but stuck to the game because of his talent.

★ He played hockey in a small league in Los Angeles with Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Bruckheimer's team, the Bad Boys.

★ Daigle once appeared in a full-page ad dressed in a nurse's uniform.^[2]

References

1. Being No .1 pick no guarantee of success
2. Daigle doomed by huge contract Chris Stevenson

External links

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★ IMDb listing