Alexandre Daigle

Alexandre Daigle (born February 7, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player.

As a youth, Daigle played in the 1988 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Laval, Quebec.

The Senators were even accused of deliberately losing games late in the 1992–93 season, their first in the NHL, in order to guarantee the first overall selection and the right to draft him.

This prompted an investigation by the NHL, who soon implemented a draft lottery to prevent such things from happening again.

The Senators subsequently finished last place overall in the 1992–93 league standings, thus securing the rights to the first overall pick.

As the draft approached, the Quebec Nordiques, who were hosting the event, were reportedly so eager to draft the next Quebecois superstar that they were rumored to have offered star players such as Owen Nolan, Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, and draft picks, but Ottawa management disregarded all offers.

The Senators selected Daigle first overall, ahead of future Hall-of-Famers Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya.

He subsequently received the largest starting salary in league history (five years, $12.25 million), leading to the introduction of a rookie salary cap a few years later.

Regarding his draft position, Daigle uttered the now infamous comment, "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two".

A highly touted junior prospect, Daigle was drafted first overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators.

After recording a modest career high of 51 points in three separate National Hockey League (NHL) regular seasons, Daigle briefly retired from hockey at age 25, but returned to the NHL two years later.

Although he played ten seasons in the NHL and four in the Swiss NL, he failed to live up to the high expectations put forth when he was drafted first overall, and is therefore regarded by many to have been a draft bust.

Leading up to the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Daigle was considered a "can't miss" prospect and NHL superstar-in-waiting.

Both entered the league in the 1993–94 season and were promoted as future stars of the franchise, displayed on the cover of the Senators' yearbook and media guide.

Management, however, supported Daigle over Yashin, touting him over Yashin for the Calder Memorial Trophy (though Yashin ended up receiving a nomination instead of Daigle).

Daigle initially seemed destined to live up to the pre-draft hype, scoring 20 goals and 51 points in a rookie season in which he had little offensive support, and his 37 points in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season had him on pace for 28 goals & 66 points in an 84 game schedule.

However, he was never able to reproduce his junior dominance, and the superstardom the Senators and the league had hoped for never materialized.

After management continued to support Daigle despite his subpar performance, an angered Yashin held out in the 1995–96 season unless his contract was renegotiated to pay him at a level similar to Daigle's. Head coach Rick Bowness and assistant coach Alain Vigneault were fired on November 21, 1995, after demoting Daigle to the fourth line.

He scored 20 or more goals twice – in his rookie year and in 1996–97, never registering more than 26 goals in a season.

He was frequently criticized for lack of effort and motivation, with his lucrative long-term contract perhaps partially to blame.

He seemed interested in the limelight, appearing in a full-page ad dressed in a nurse's uniform.

Russian center Alexei Yashin outplayed Daigle in every season that they were teammates in Ottawa.

On September 25, 1996, Daigle was removed from a team flight when, while chatting with a flight attendant aboard USAir Flight 1948, he leaned over to Trevor Timmins (then the Senators' Director Of Team Services) and said, "Watch out for your bomb there" while motioning towards Timmins' laptop computer.

Upon hearing Daigle's comment, the flight attendant notified the captain, who immediately contacted USAir ground control, and police were subsequently notified.

What Daigle did not know was that then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was also on the Pittsburgh International Airport's tarmac at the time, resulting in a heightened level of security.

Daigle was not prosecuted for the incident, but was fined $300 and barred from boarding the connecting flight to Tampa with the rest of the team.

During the 1997–98 season, after four and a half seasons, 74 goals and 172 points in 301 games played, Ottawa finally soured on Daigle and traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for prospect Václav Prospal and another first-round bust, Pat Falloon.

With the Flyers, Daigle scored 31 points in 68 games.

In January 1999, Philadelphia traded Daigle to the Edmonton Oilers, who later that same day traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Alexander Selivanov.

Daigle played only 32 games for the Lightning, collecting six goals and six assists for 12 points.

The New York Rangers then acquired Daigle as a reclamation project, sending cash to the Lightning, but they too realized the one-time junior superstar was not living up to expectations and waived him at the end of the season.

In 58 games with the Rangers, Daigle recorded just 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points.

Daigle found himself out of hockey by the age of 25.

No one was willing to take a chance on the under-achiever, and in fact, Daigle admitted he had no desire to play the game anymore.

In an interview on Radio-Canada, he said he never wanted to play hockey, but stuck to the game because of his talent.

Instead, he became interested in the entertainment business and the opportunity to be a celebrity.

He played hockey in a small league in Los Angeles with Cuba Gooding Jr. on Jerry Bruckheimer's team, the Bad Boys, and created an event promotion company, Impostor Entertainment, with former Montreal Expos pitcher Derek Aucoin.

Their first project was a concert featuring Sheryl Crow during the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One auto race in Montreal.

Following a two-year absence from hockey and in need of a steady paycheque, Daigle decided to attempt an NHL comeback.

Chris Pronger, selected with the second pick by the Hartford Whalers, was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.