He was the chosen oneThe chosen one“, as some newspapers headlined at the time. But 30 years after he was selected first overall in the National League draft, Alexandre Daigle is saying it bluntly Newspaper: “I was good, but I can't say I was as good as Guy Lafleur or Mario Lemieux. Except that was the media’s expectations and I had no control over it.”
Daigle will appear in a documentary on Amazon Prime starting Friday that will focus on his controversial career, in which he actually never managed to live up to the immense expectations that were placed on him even before he was hired by the Senators Ottawa did not take office with great fanfare.
You can find excerpts here:
Dress up as a nurse for $12 million
The show, titled “Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle,” opens with Sportsnet archive footage from the mid-2000s in which the host mocks the Quebec forward, who was then in his second NHL stint.
“Alexandre Daigle became a hero in the NHL, but mostly because of the money he made and the girls he dated. Although I too would dress up as a nurse for $12 million and a bit of Pamela Anderson. The Wild player has had a strange career and many wonder why the former first overall pick continues to play.
Screenshot from Amazon Prime
To which Daigle, who is watching the footage for the filming of the documentary, replies: “That’s a good question.”
But the original Laval resident had it all, he said in an interview Monday. Contrary to what some of his critics may have said during his career, he actually liked hockey.
Enough, in particular, to end his career in Switzerland, where he retired 17 years after his first skates in the NHL.
“Stop it, est*, with the 'I don't like hockey,'” Daigle says to those who doubted his passion. I still play hockey, I listen to it at home and it won't stop.
Alexandre Daigle during his selection by the Senators in 1993. Archive photo
He was missing “the edge”
What he lacked, he explains in both the documentary and the journal, was more of “the edge,” or that desire to surpass himself and push his talent even further, which separates the good players from the superstars.
The one that undoubtedly distinguishes Alexandre Daigle from Mario Lemieux or Guy Lafleur.
In “Chosen One,” Daigle, now 48 and an executive producer of TV shows, describes the moment he lost his temper.
He was 15 years old, played in midfield and was used to scoring 50 goals a season. “Fifty was my goal all along. Then one day, phew, I lost that motivation.”
Screenshot from Amazon Prime
Daigle still believes 30 years later that things could have been very different for him if he had had access to the same tools as today's players. Sports psychologists, a support program… It's fortunate that NHL hockey players now have access to all this help.
But back then, “depression,” as his father Jean-Yves, who also appears in the documentary, says, was “a taboo.”
Archive photo
“It is what it is”
He believes the context of his selection also did not help him reach his full potential. The Senators had 11 rookies on their roster, including him, the bilingual star who always spoke to the media.
Their general manager and head coach were also first-years.
“It's certain, I said to myself at the time, will it get better in the end?” But looking back, there was no chance that it would happen again,” analyzes Daigle.
Archive photo
However, don't think Daigle is looking bitterly in the rearview mirror. The man who now coaches his son in ice hockey still exudes the charisma and spontaneity on the phone that, alongside his immense potential, helped make him the first face of the Senators in 1993.
“It is what it is” (“That's how it is and I can't change anything”) is the phrase he uses most often to interrupt his sentences when asked about his possible regrets.
“I ended up having a really good life,” he emphasizes from Montreal, where he has lived since retiring. And I still have an incredibly beautiful specimen.”
Alexandre Daigle and Jean Béliveau archive photo
It's still strange to see Daigle in a documentary that has been in the limelight rather than the spotlight since the end of his highly publicized career.
However, the former first election official explains that he did not hesitate when Amazon contacted him to become part of this project. Especially for his children, “whom he had at the end of his career or after.”
Difficult interviews and dressing up as a nurse
From the outside, however, the exercise may not have been all fun. Time and time again we see Daigle looking back at pictures from his career, and these aren't just the best of the 327 points in 616 games he ultimately scored in the NHL.
No, he also watches seemingly difficult television interviews from the 1990s in which he is asked about his commitment to the sport of ice hockey.
Screenshot from Amazon Prime
At times, criticism from his former coaches or general managers who said he shouldn't spend his summers in Los Angeles.
Those controversial quotes, like when he said (and he explains that he was taken out of context) that everyone remembers the first but not the second.
And there are those famous photos of him dressed as a nurse for an advertising campaign for The Score that caused a stir 30 years ago and earned him heavy criticism in the NHL's ultra-conservative environment.
“Hey, I looked good!” he replies with a laugh when he sees her in the documentary. I had abs back then!”
Screenshot from eBay
“It's sure that it wasn't always fun to watch difficult things, but at the same time the documentary wasn't made over a weekend,” explains Daigle, who emphasizes, however, that the first five minutes were more painful.
“It seems like I don't really recognize myself: I was 18, I didn't have the same reflexes, I had no experience. The years have allowed me to put things in perspective. The nurse's story makes me laugh about it now, but at the time I didn't think it was cool to be abused.
Again, Daigle believes his story could serve as an example to better prepare young hockey stars.
“You do it now. I think everyone understands that you're investing in these young people over the next 10 or 15 years. You have to protect him and use the opportunities in your favor.”
“If I had had help…”
The need for support and supervision, but also this glamorous life of a young prime minister, these summers with the Los Angeles elite, these rumors of an affair with Pamela Anderson (which he doesn't talk about).
If we look at it in hindsight, beyond the context of the poor Senators, was Alexandre Daigle ultimately too far ahead of his time in this NHL where PK Subban's hats and triple low fives were still criticized there? A few years ago?
“Ah yes, we see it now [ce genre de visibilité]If it's positive, it's good for the league, it's good for the athlete. So I would say yes, 1000%.”
Photo Pierre Paul Poulin
Despite everything, Daigle says it bluntly: He is “very happy” today.
“But if I had had help, would that have changed the direction of my career? he repeats. It is save.
▶ Alexandre Daigle: Chosen One will stream on Amazon Prime starting Friday, January 26th.