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Alexandre Daigle became a hero in the NHL,
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but, uh, not for much more than the money he made
-and the chicks he dated. -[anchor] Ooh.
I might dress up as a nurse too
for 12 million bucks and a shot at Pamela Anderson. [exclaims]
-[anchor] Yes. -It's been a strange career
for the former number one overall pick,
and many wonder why the member of the Minnesota Wild keeps playing.
That's a good question.
[film projector whirring]
I was at ESPN magazine and we started doing all of these stories
about people who loved hockey,
and we heard that Alexandre Daigle, the number one pick that wasn't
was in Davos and had this, like, new lease on life.
I pitched the story to my editor-in-chief
and I was very thrilled when he said, "Sure, go to Switzerland."
The knock on Alex was that he didn't love the game enough
to ever be the best that he could be.
But he loved the game enough to go to another continent
to continue to play the game.
And I just thought that that had to be a really good story.
[film projector whirring]
[narrator] In a thousand rinks, in a thousand towns,
-here's the great Canadian game, hockey. -[players clamoring]
[Berra] In Canada, hockey is like a religion.
[narrator] The younger you begin, the sooner you learn.
[MacGregor] Life is where we spend time between periods.
Nowhere in Canada is it more important than in the province of Quebec.
[reporter] Quebec, la belle province, where the heroes are hockey stars.
[narrator] The players are picked and groomed
for possible big league futures,
trained by expert coaches.
[anchor] Center : Alexandre Daigle.
Hometown : Laval, Quebec.
Alexandre Daigle is being touted as the next in a long succession
of great offensive players
that has carried from Richard to Béliveau to Lafleur to Lemieux.
[presenter] The first pick, Alexandre Daigle.
[crowd cheering]
[Berra] They were expecting him to be some kind of savior.
[MacGregor] Did it work out the way a lot of people predicted it would,
and maybe he dreamed it would? No.
[both speaking French, chuckles]
[Jean-Yves, in French] When your kids are young,
you have no idea what they'll become.
[Alex] I grew up-- Well, big town now, called Laval.
[interviewer] Was it primarily French-speaking?
Primarily? 102% French.
It couldn't be more French than that.
[in French] He was the worst skater I'd seen in my life.
I gave him positive advice like,
"Prepare your skates right before playing a game."
When you do that, you clear your mind and just think about your game.
[Alex, in English] It was always comforting going into the car
and knowing that, you know, you're really down,
but nah, this guy won't be down.
[Jean-Yves, in French] Determination was his biggest quality.
Nothing could stop him.
He started to become one of the best in his age group.
He comes home from tryouts and says, "The coach didn't choose me."
[chuckles] The next day, he goes to practice.
The coach gathers the players and says,
"Those I picked last week, come with me."
Alex goes with the kids that were picked.
-[in English] And he didn't realize it. -[interviewer chuckles]
And that was the best players on the team.
[crowd clamoring, cheering]
[Jean-Yves, in French] Then, finally, he became a super skater.
[crowd clamoring]
Pee-Wee, bantam were…
[in English] …amazing. [chuckles]
[crowd cheering]
[Alex] That was a great thing because I was shy
and you're making friends with guys that have the same goals, the same fun.
[teammates clamoring, cheering]
I loved it.
[interviewer] What were your other hobbies off the ice?
Other hobbies? Nah, come on. That doesn't exist.
Hockey was the only focus, the only thing I wanted to do.
The goal for most, if not all, these young prospects,
is to be drafted high in the Quebec major league.
And then from there, be drafted in the NHL.
You know, get that dream pumping, and it became a reality.
[crowd cheering]
Twelve, 13, 14, you know, I was pretty much dominating the leagues.
[Brisson] We all heard about him. So I saw him play.
The first time was Prime Midget AAA.
That's the first time that you really play with all the best players in the province,
and yeah, he was an amazing player.
[reporter, in French] Yes, he is only 15 years old, and he dominates circuits
where the majority of players are 16 and 17 years old.
[Alex, in English] My goal was to score 50 goals in Midget.
[reporter, in French] Daigle is dominating the scoresheet
with 28 goals and 24 assists in 21 games.
[in English] I realized, "Hey, man. I have a chance."
Halfway through the season, I broke my wrist.
And so every practice, every game, tape it up, let's go.
-Fifty goals, let's fucking do it. -[crowd cheering]
[reporter, in French] At 6 feet and 160 pounds, this young man from Laval
is a great prospect for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
[Alex, in English] You had to be tough, show toughness.
I could still play with a broken wrist.
[interviewer] You make it sound so easy.
Well, because there was no choice.
You know, the injury comes, the draft is coming up,
all those elements together. I didn't want to stop.
[in French] I try not to set goals. I just try to do my best. [chuckles]
[Alex, in English] And I did it. Fifty goals. Sixty assists. 110 points.
[presenter speaking French]
[reporter, in English] There are no holes in Alexandre Daigle's game.
-[announcer speaking French] -[crowd cheering]
But with Alex, it was really those first three steps,
and the guy was gone.
[crowd cheering]
He was an excellent skater. One of the best I've seen.
[announcer, in French] Daigle accelerates.
Look at that speed! What a force!
-And that is a goal by Alexandre Daigle! -[crowd cheering]
A play like that is worth the price of admission!
-[crowd cheering, chanting] -[announcer] It is worth watching
as you are doing from home right now.
And it shows you who Alexandre Daigle is.
[announcer continues, speaking French]
[in English] By the time Alexandre Daigle rolls around
as a high-prospect 18-year-old in 1993
you have this system where the worst team in the league
got to pick the first player in the draft.
And at that time, that was the Ottawa Senators. [chuckles]
[reporter] The National Hockey League is returning to Ottawa.
They'll be called the Senators.
How bad were they? Well, they made the ESPN highlights of the year.
And that was Andrew McBain falling down the steps at the Chicago Coliseum.
They were bad.
[Leeder] We had a terrible season. We almost set a record for futility.
-[announcer] Shoots and scores! -[crowd cheering]
[Leeder] We started looking for,
"Okay, who are the potential top picks next year?"
And Alex was this French-Canadian superstar in the making.
[announcer] …backhand, he scores!
You know, they would say, well, he has the hockey sense of Mario Lemieux.
He's faster than Jean Béliveau. He was a Canadian.
We were a Canadian market. We were Canada's capital city.
So Alex Daigle fit the bill for what we were trying to find
and he was the player that we wanted.
[reporter] He's a franchise player,
the kind of player who can secure a team's future
on and off the ice.
But you have to finish dead last to draft him.
San Jose and Ottawa were in last and second-last place.
[MacGregor] You have teams saying that the proper strategy,
since we're not going to make the playoffs anyway, is to tank.
If we tank, if we come in last, we get Alexandre Daigle.
And so we had this race to the bottom.
So The Ottawa Citizen began playing this up a lot.
It became known as the Daigle Cup.
And they ran this daily, saying where the standings were.
And those standings in Ottawa of the worst teams
became far more important than the standings of the best teams.
We weren't trying to lose. But believe me, as bad as we were, it looked like it.
But we weren't trying to lose.
[Sexton] That concept was unequivocally never discussed.
In fact, when the Daigle Cup started this whole media momentum,
I called the president of the San Jose Sharks
and I proposed a deal to him.
"Let's agree that the team that finishes second last gets the first pick."
Art totally flatly shut me down. Reported it to the league.
I get a call from the league saying, "Please don't discuss this ever again."
And I concurred.
[reporter] On 32 nights, it's been a sellout.
Ottawa's fans wanting to win, expecting to lose.
But tonight, a chance to win by losing.
They should lose the game for the first pick.
There's no use battling it now. Go for Daigle.
[reporter] It's obvious the future is Daigle.
He can see it. He knows it.
Lose the game, and it's yours.
Your future is basically riding on this game.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] …for Neely, scores! Cam Neely, coming off the quarter!
[Berra] They lost 70 games.
I can't even imagine playing on a hockey team that lost that often.
And it wasn't all that long after that that you went to a draft lottery.
So that will stand in history
as Alexandre Daigle's greatest contribution to hockey.
Wow.
Imagine you read all this, and 18 years old, and it's like, man,
don't know what's going on, you don't know what's your move.
You don't know if you should comment on it.
It's, uh-- It's not an easy task.
[film projector whirring]
[reporter] We are outside the home of Alexandre Daigle in Laval, Quebec,
about 25 kilometers north of Montreal.
For a guy who should be jumping out of his skin,
Daigle seems remarkably cool.
It's expected that he'll be chosen first overall in the upcoming draft.
I've always liked to get in the home of your first pick,
because you learn a lot about the way they're raised
and the type of family they came from.
So Rick Bowness and I went down to meet with Alex and his parents.
We were very excited.
It was the first time we really met people from the NHL.
They came in, we were all dressed up, ready to go.
And, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Daigle were incredibly gracious.
Alex was, um-- Alex was Alex.
He had that personality right away. Like, smiley, happy, you know.
He's the fun.
He said a couple of things in French
and he wasn't-- maybe wasn't sure we understood, but we did.
I have a lot of options in front of me, so I will take the right one.
It's no secret the Quebec Nordiques would love to have him.
And they've already said they'd trade a bundle to get him.
[Alex] They really put pressure to sign that contract before the draft,
'cause Ottawa was really scared I was not going to show up,
like Eric Lindros.
[presenter] The Quebec Nordiques are very proud to select Eric Lindros.
[MacGregor] It was an ugly situation.
[reporter] Lindros just took that sweater,
draped it across his arm. He will not put the sweater on.
He made that perfectly clear to the Quebec Nordiques.
[MacGregor] He refused.
In Canada, with high taxes,
you're always concerned about players' desirability to be in your market.
And I raised the issue with Pierre,
and he was crystal clear that if you draft Alex, he will come.
[Leeder] Our position was let's not wait. Our fans were excited.
[MacGregor] Alex was bilingual, handsome, dashing.
Funny, charming.
Great player. All the things that the Franco-Canadian fans love.
[crowd cheering]
Apparently the two sides have agreed, in principle,
to a five-year deal worth anywhere between ten and 14 million dollars.
But if Daigle works out to be the franchise player they think he'll be,
it'll be worth every penny.
He wasn't equipped to be put in that position.
And next thing I know, I'm, uh-- I'm getting drafted.
[speaking French]
[reporter] What do you think about the draft coming up?
Ah. [sighs] I hope to be number one.
[Alex] But it's like a wedding, in a sense.
So I guess we just stand here?
-Yeah, just let Alex take over. -[chuckles]
[Alex] Talking to everybody, trying to please everybody.
[fan] So we're looking forward to seeing you next season?
-[Alex chuckles] -Okay.
[Alex] It goes so quick that it becomes a blur.
[MacGregor] They put Alexandre Daigle in a horse-drawn buggy with Jean Béliveau.
People truly believed that Alex was the next coming.
[crowd cheering]
Everywhere he went, cheers and screaming.
Young men wanted to get their girlfriends photographed with him.
A lot of 18- and 19-year-olds in this building are very excited
along with our audience from coast to coast in Canada this afternoon.
This is a great year to be looking for a franchise player, is it not?
[anchor] Certainly is. Makes you realize how young they really are.
Eighteen years old and you think of the NBA draft or the NFL draft
and certainly the players they're taking are 20, 21 years old.
Alexandre Daigle, two years of major junior hockey,
four years ago was playing bantam hockey.
Now here he is, ready to be number one pick.
The first pick in the 1993 entry draft,
the Ottawa Senators welcome Alexandre Daigle.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer 1] Daigle is the consensus number one draft pick.
-The best player available. -[announcer 2] No question about that.
[coach] We felt this is the young man
that you could build a world-class National Hockey League team around.
[reporter] He's just an explosive offensive weapon.
Alexandre is proud too, and all of his family is very proud.
He's gonna step in next year and he's gonna play and he's gonna do well
and so it's a great day for us.
I knew I was going first, so after I'd said,
"How do I play it?" I gotta look surprised. [chuckles]
But, uh, I was not at all.
[presenter] The Ottawa Senators welcome Alexandre Daigle!
[crowd cheering]
[in French] What a memorable day. I was younger then. [chuckles]
[reporter, in English] Meeting the team was just the beginning.
Then it was time to meet the media.
And then it was on to four separate photo sessions,
a preview of what's to come of stardom,
and finally, a chance to sit back and reflect on his day.
The biggest day of my life.
So it's invaluable time for me, for my family, all the guys who know me.
It's such a great feeling, where I work all those years to come here
and I'm here and I'm first, so that's amazing.
[Jean-Yves, in French] Your mother cried.
-[presenter continues indistinctly] -[in French] Yeah.
[Sexton, in English] Well, I remember
I had his first installment of the signing bonus, which was $500,000.
So I called him into my office to give it to him.
I said, "Alex, this is a lot of money. What are you going to do with it?"
He wanted to buy, uh, his mother a car.
She was taking the bus to work every day, so I had to change that system. [chuckles]
We went car shopping and, uh, he bought this beautiful Buick.
And put a big, uh, red bow on it, and parked the car--
I remember, like-- not in the parking lot, kind of on the lawn, right?
And mom gets out and goes, "Who parked the car on my lawn?" Right?
And he goes, "Mom," and then she sees the big bow, right.
And she goes, "Wha-Wha-- What?"
[chuckles] It was very cute.
Well, I said, "That's good. What are you gonna do with the rest?"
And he said, "I'm gonna pay off my parents' mortgage."
That's something I always wanted to do.
We're starting the season in Midget,
but Midget, you pay a premium to play in that league.
So my parents paid it, but they forgot-- Well, they didn't forget--
It was just, I needed new skates as well. I was growing.
And they didn't have the money for the skates,
so my dad had to go borrow the money.
First check, that's what I did,
I paid my parents' mortgage and that was it.
I think it was 60,000 Canadian at the time.
And I bought myself a car, and pretty much it.
I didn't buy anything for a long time.
You're giving me all the fun stuff.
Later, it will be just-- The negative will come in.
[interviewer chuckles] There's a lot of time
-to put in everything. -Just before lunch, huh?
[crowd cheering, whistling]
[reporter] Alexandre Daigle has arrived and all eyes are watching him.
[MacGregor] Everywhere he went, it was awe-inspiring.
[reporter] Daigle is the exclusive property of the Senators.
[Alex] Think I met every single person in Ottawa. [chuckles]
[reporter] To help him, the team is training him in public relations
and working to improve his English.
I don't have enough words to express what I really think.
[MacGregor] He was an 18-year-old child when he got here.
And of course, there was the media controversy.
During a session, Alex had said, "No one remembers who goes second."
You know, my approach, I was super naive, so-- [chuckles]
There's always a race in Montreal, the F1 race.
And I went that year with my dad,
and we always say, you know, the guy who wins in Montreal,
the next year… [stammers] …you don't remember who was second.
From Peterborough, Chris Pronger.
[crowd cheering]
I was literally talking about that day.
I was not talking about a career, and I was not, you know--
I was not overthinking my answer and that's what, you know--
they took that line and they rode forever.
The other thing that happened was
one of the hockey card production companies put out a picture of him
dressed up as a nurse.
First of all, I looked great.
I was tight, you know. I had abs at that time.
But, you know, I'm very easygoing guy, and so I went to the shoot, I'm by myself.
I have no agent, nobody, you know, making decisions there.
They throw all those outfits out there. So I said, "Okay, that's pretty funny."
And yeah. The worst decision ever,
as far as, you know, being taken seriously,
people making fun of you.
It was, like, just terrible.
This was deemed almost a crime.
It was tabooed. It wasn't accepted.
[MacGregor] People were really pissed off about it.
I was very upset. I just didn't feel that it cast Alex in the right light.
That's not how we do things in the NHL.
There's no way it was.
Alex wasn't acting like a hockey player
when he said no one remembers who comes second.
Alex wasn't acting like an NHL hockey player
when he dressed up in a nurse's outfit.
And it's still to this day, 30 years later,
sometimes I meet people and they talk to me about it.
It's "Oh, seriously, man? Wow."
So, a lot on my plate during that summer.
-Man, what the fuck am I doing? -[interviewer chattering, chuckles]
This is the end of the road.
[interviewer] This is it, huh?
Daigle, you got me. I'm done.
[reporter] Alexandre Daigle has arrived and all eyes are watching him.
I'm just a little bit nervous because it's pros.
[reporter] The real pressure will come as he tries to meet expectations
of a team in desperate need of a talent, of a city in need of a superstar.
[Mailloux] Hockey's such a fun thing,
and when you have a person that you wanna believe in
and cheer for them, it's like, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."
And he's nice and he has this big smile and he speaks French and English
and people were expecting him to score, like, 50 goals the first season.
[reporter] The franchise tried his best to blend in with the scrimmaging veterans,
but it simply isn't possible anymore.
The expectations were… [whistles]
For the Ottawa Senators, we're gonna see the debut of Alexandre Daigle.
-[anchor 1] Alexandre Daigle-- -[anchor 2] Alexandre Daigle--
[anchor 3] They're banking their future on this young man.
I always say it's never about the results, it's about what you expected.
For me, it was, "Okay, am I good enough to play in this league?"
-[announcer speaking French] -[crowd cheering]
[buzzer sounds]
[announcer] Alexandre Daigle shoots, he scores!
[Alex] First month, I had one of my best months ever in the league.
[announcer] He's on a pace now to exceed Wayne Gretzky,
Mario Lemieux, and Eric Lindros
in their first seasons in the National Hockey League.
-[in French] That was a special game. -Ooh. [chuckles]
[reporter] There's his parents sitting in the stands here at the Forum.
Must be a special treat.
[reporter, in French] Were you nervous when you arrived?
[Jean-Yves, in French] Yes. For me, he's playing in Montreal.
[announcer speaking French]
[crowd cheering]
[announcer, in English] Now it's Yashin out in front, they score!
The Ottawa Senators have beaten the Montreal Canadiens
on an overtime goal.
Their first ever win in the Montreal Forum.
It's, like, a big thing going into the Forum.
It's like, my-- It's like my first game in the league, really, for me,
because it's so big and all my family were there, everything--
So it was tremendous feeling.
[Jean-Yves speaking French]
[reporter speaking French]
That's a nice answer.
[interviewer] What did he say?
He said, "That's when I realized…
[clears throat] …my son was playing in the NHL."
You know, over the years, you know, there's one or two generational player
that could play at 18 years old and be so impactful.
So Alex wasn't ready to be that player, going into an organization like this.
[announcer] Apart from Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle,
Ottawa has no one to put the puck in the net.
-Between them, the two have 27 goals… -[crowd cheering]
…as much as the 11 remaining forwards combined.
[Sexton] We didn't have the depth.
And as a result, he was exposed to more difficult matchups
and we didn't have the support mechanism internally to help him deal with it.
[Mailloux] It's as if he had no one to talk to
and be like, "Tell me how it is. Tell me how this works."
Crosby, for example, when he was drafted by the Penguins,
he lived with Mario Lemieux for years.
Alex didn't have that, and it would have made a-- probably a very big difference.
[Berra] They go on to lose 61 games that year,
and he does end up scoring 20 goals.
You would think, wow, that was actually kind of impressive.
But because he hadn't scored 50 goals and 100 points,
he was just branded as not meeting expectations.
Then the lockout happened.
We believe that the prudent course of action is to put things on hold.
That made the perfect storm.
[Leeder] The other teams were not necessarily
as thrilled about Alex's contract as maybe we were.
[reporter] They say it's way out of line to pay millions to an unproven commodity.
[Sinden] Two years ago, number one pick.
He got $475,000 a year.
The 1993 pick got five times as much.
That's more money than anybody could have ever imagined a rookie getting.
So it sent shock waves through the entire hockey system.
It basically led to salary caps on entry-level contracts.
It became the Alex Daigle clause, so to speak, you know?
It puts a target on you, for sure.
[announcer] They claim he gets $37,902 a game,
which translates to $12,634 a period.
[commentator] He's good-looking there,
but he's definitely not good-looking on the ice.
[reporter] This was, by far, the worst team in hockey.
[Leeder] We finished dead last overall in the league four consecutive years.
[MacGregor] Alex, of course, he became the scapegoat.
[Alex] I was the face of it. In Ottawa, it's a bilingual city,
so who's gonna do the French interview after a game? It's gonna be me.
Who's gonna be on the English side? It's gonna be me.
So you're always there, so you're gonna be the first criticized.
[reporter 1] Tell us why the Senators have had problems
scoring in the first period this season.
Is the NHL harder than you thought?
[reporter 2] Are you very annoyed
that you guys haven't done better than you have?
And you imagine answering those questions in English,
then second-guessing the way he answered them.
Then having to sort of rethink them and then go answer them in French again.
And just talk over and over again,
literally double the time anyone else would have to,
about how bad you and your teammates were that night.
[announcer] Here comes Daigle!
Dekes, shoots and misses the entire net!
[announcer 2] Kind of wondering how that plays on a young man's mind.
Making that kind of dollars, Greg, and you're simply not performing.
[Mailloux] I remember Alex hadn't been scoring for a bit,
and I'm in the crowd, and there is, like, 20,000 people.
-Alex got the puck. I hear, "Boo!" -[crowd booing]
Ouch. It hurt me.
Right away… [whistles] …he got rid of the puck.
[Berra] The fans are all over him all the time.
He's got no room to breathe whatsoever.
We're just walking, and I see people, like, walking towards us.
We have to keep walking. Otherwise we'll get stuck.
-[interviewer] Are you having fun yet? -Yeah, having fun. Having fun doing--
When I play, nobody can bugs me, and all those stuff,
so I just laugh and play hockey. That's it.
When, you know-- When you don't have fun, you quit hockey.
[announcer] Now a chance for Ottawa. Daigle moving down on the right wing.
Cuts in front and he's taken out by Daneyko,
and goes crashing into the net and he is hurt.
Broke both bones.
That was the end of my season right there.
[announcer] And, boy, he's holding that left arm and he's in a lot of pain.
-We're gonna take a short break… -[sighing]
Takes a long time to be a good player
and to be an overall good player and an impact player.
You don't-- You know, most people don't-- are impact player at 18, 19 or 20.
You learn from experience in the league what it takes to become successful and--
So it took me a while to-- Uh…
Well, not a while, but trials and errors, and after that, I got it down.
But dedication was always on top of everybody's--
Ah, everybody-- um-- lyrics.
And saying, "Yeah, that's the problem." Well, maybe there's more to it.
[announcer, in French] The '96-'97 season
will be very important for Alexandre Daigle,
as he is in the last year of his four-year contract.
If he doesn't perform, he knows he won't be back to Ottawa.
[Mailloux] Hockey players, they play hockey,
but they have a lot of time to think.
So on those, like, dead times, you think about stuff.
[Berra] Think of the people who are the best at what they do.
There's still that element of fun and play that happens with them.
And that's why they're so good at what they do
because it doesn't feel like work, and they wanna show up.
At some point, that process became not fun for Alex.
[announcer] Daigle-- Oh! He's hammered at center ice…
-[whistle blows] -…and knocked into next Tuesday!
[Alex] When you're not used to reading the papers and getting the TV coverage
and now, you can understand it and look at it and see it,
yeah, you just--
Geez, there's a lot of negative that goes into your head, and it's--
Uh, I don't think that's healthy.
[Mailloux] When it got too hard for him on the ice, you look away.
Maybe the dedication wasn't there early on.
Because my stats were not up to par, dedication became the biggest issue.
That has been one of the things about Daigle,
he hasn't competed at certain times.
Alex said he was interested in film and things like that.
[reporter] I heard somewhere that someday you'd like to be a stand-up comic.
What?
You're interested in something other than hockey? Are you sick?
[TV host] So is your social life a bit of a distraction?
-My social life? -[TV host] Yeah. Come on.
You're young. You have a lot of money. You're a nice-looking guy.
The reputation was certainly following him around.
[TV host] No, seriously. [stammers]
-Do you think that-- -Seriously.
-[TV host] What? No, seriously. -[laughs] I'm serious.
[TV host] I mean, a lot of people say, you know--
a lot of people say, you know, "He's a glitter boy. Got a lot of money.
Good-looking guy." You know, "He's not serious about the sport
because it all has come so easy to him." But it really hasn't, has it?
A lot of times, when I look at those interviews and the tape,
it's reporters that put me in a spot.
And people are watching this.
It seems like I wanna shoot myself, or it's, like, a tough time.
And it's-- it's not the case.
It's just tough for me to explain to a reporter that comes
and just trying to find a reason why my performance
are not what was expected of me when I was drafted first overall.
And in the meantime, I gotta look very sad,
but I'm having a great life.
So he found the right remedy,
but that remedy wasn't accepted at the time.
[Leeder] We felt internally that he's never gonna meet the fans' expectations.
Better for us and better for him
if he moved on and had a fresh start somewhere else.
He asked me if I wanted to stay in Ottawa, and I said, you know-- I said, "Yeah."
But I don't think I was that convincing. [laughs]
It didn't take a month and I was traded.
[announcer 1] A flight came in yesterday at Philadelphia International Airport
from Canada's capital and brought with him,
ta-da, Alexandre Daigle.
I was very happy. I really wanted to go to the States
and live not under a microscope as much.
Relief, you know? Over the last month, a lot of trade talks in Ottawa.
And obviously, coming to the Flyers--
If you had a wish list, the Flyers are first on any list.
Flyers are hoping, without any pressure,
that he's gonna blossom into the player that they think he can.
[announcer 2] Brind'Amour with the puck for Daigle, exploiting the defenseman.
Daigle at goal.
-He scores! -[crowd cheering]
[announcer 2] Alexandre Daigle's first goal as a Flyer
is a game winner in overtime!
It's a winning team in here.
You got Lindros. You got Brind'Amour. You got LeClair. You got a lot of stars.
[announcer 3] Alexandre Daigle sets up Eric Lindros.
Gratton with a pass for Sillinger, to Daigle-- they score!
Alexandre Daigle! Tic-tac-toe!
There's that speed from Daigle. Daigle moves up.
Sillinger in front, scores!
[announcer 2] There's the shot. Oh, what a release. A hat trick for Daigle.
[Alex] And I had a breakaway as well and I hit the crossbar.
Couldn't do wrong that game.
And the Daigle.
-Is he a pisser or what? I like him. -[laughs] He's a riot.
I was very friendly and always open, and always ready to talk to anybody.
So now, let me get this right. They had you do this TV show
where they made you go to all these Las Vegas shows.
-You know, I-I'm big in Quebec. -[interviewer chuckles]
-I needed a camera on me all the time. -[interviewer] You just--
-Are you Kenney? Hey. [kisses] -How are you? [kisses]
[interviewer] Is that the kind of thing you like to do?
You think maybe a career in Hollywood or something like that?
-Entertainment? -Yeah, like acting.
I might live there because I got the money, but--
[both laugh]
See what I mean? He's modest. What can I tell ya?
It was just a fun time.
[announcer] They've taken that pressure off him,
and he'd go out there and just play the game.
And, folks, he is coming alive.
I was Player of the Month, I was very proud of myself.
[MacGregor] A lot of good athletes have the ability not to get distracted.
Alex did not have the ability not to get distracted.
[presenter] You said you had a good summer training. You had a good summer overall?
[Alex] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
-It was good. [chuckles] -[presenter] Mmm.
-That it was. -[Alex] I missed you guys. [chuckles]
[presenter] My train of thought was just lost there for a moment.
All of a sudden I started thinking about beaches and lifeguards.
-Uh, I'll be all right. -You need those.
-I guess so. -Yeah.
There was a rumor that came out.
It was a little bit of the imaginary of a hockey player, you know,
dating somebody that level.
That's-- You know, that-- that was the beauty of, um…
[clicks tongue] … of no social media.
So there's no proof,
and I don't have to talk about it, so I don't.
[sighs]
[interviewer] At training camp, Bob Clarke was outspoken on perhaps the--
the shape that you came in. Was it a fair assessment from the GM?
[Alex] I don't think it was fair. I think I was in shape.
Bobby Clarke, think he's an old-school type guy.
And he thought LA was not suitable for a young player to train and to have fun.
Um, so, that was his view on it.
I'm not gonna ask anybody what I should do as far as, you know, where I should live.
And there was no way I was going to listen to, uh-- to anybody on that subject.
[announcer] Here's a chance for a man-- And score! They score!
[Alex] I had a great start of the season,
and Roger Neilson, the coach, calls me in and he said,
"Alex, I love the season."
You know, "We're doing well right now, but we're gonna change a few things now."
I said, "Really? What?"
And he said, uh, "We're gonna make a defensive player out of you."
I thought it was a joke at the beginning, and I said, "Listen, Roger."
I said, "I scored 26 two years ago. Let's do it this year. I'm going for 30."
And he said, "No, you're not. It's not gonna happen.
You're gonna be a defensive player or you're not gonna play."
I said, "Roger, man, you do what you have to do. Whatever."
And I left.
[Brisson] It's something we deal with, with NHL players.
You know, they achieve something at age 22, 23. "I'm arrived."
Once you think you arrive, you're as good as gone.
[Alex] You wanna be at that level,
you gotta be willing to make those sacrifices.
You need to give it all on every aspect of your life.
-[announcer] Eric Lindros! -[crowd cheering]
[Alex] Eric Lindros is the guy that I looked upon now,
and through all of the years that I play, that loved the game the most.
[announcer] That's what the people came to see!
[Alex] When he got into the Hall of Fame, I wrote him an email.
Tell him-- [clears throat] Tell him how I felt while playing with him.
He was practicing like he was playing.
It was, like, all out and almost cross-checking people.
Like, he was all in all the time.
I remember once we're doing, like, races to the puck.
The odds I'm gonna win that race are pretty high.
Beat him once.
Second time I beat him, I received a slashing from him.
And I was like, "Oh, okay, this guy fucking serious."
[chuckles] Like, he takes it to the first degree.
Don't fuck around with that guy.
For me, looking at him-- The way he was playing.
The way he loved it. The way he was involved.
And the way he dedicate his life…
[clears throat] …a hundred percent to the sport,
it was pretty amazing.
[interviewer] Did you ever have a feeling that I wish
I could dedicate myself that much?
[grunts] Hundred percent. For sure. For sure.
[interviewer] Do you think there is a specific moment that you can point to
where you said, "That's where I didn't have the edge"?
[Alex] Yeah, it was, uh, Midget.
That was the last time, really, that, uh, I had no care in the world,
and hockey was the main, main, main priority for me.
Ended up, you know, leading the league, and scoring-- and scoring that 50 goals.
And that 50 was always my number that I wanted to reach.
So when I reached that, I don't know what happened. It just--
I was like, "Okay."
Uh, in my little brain, a 15-year-old, I was-- "What do I do next?"
And I never really recaptured it.
Uh, now, you know,
they have a sports psychologist and all those things.
And I think it's amazing. But 30 years ago, I don't think so.
[Jean-Yves, in French] Back then, you were not allowed to talk about it.
Exactly.
You couldn't talk about depression or anything else.
It would have made a big difference in my career.
Definitely.
But what can we do? Our hands were tied.
[in English] Draft was coming in a year and a half from now,
and going to a doctor or-- for, uh, burnout,
or whatever you want to call it at the time…
Uh, it was not a good look for a young kid.
What? You're seeing a psychologist? You're seeing someone?
What's wrong with you? You're the first pick overall.
The combination of having that goal,
of scoring 50, being the first overall pick,
from there on, he thought he was arrived.
It's gonna be like this. I'm gonna be fine.
You know, only him can probably answer that today.
I never recaptured the edge I had.
When that happened at 15, my edge just went away.
And when you lose that edge, you're done.
When you grow up and you get to the NHL, yeah, it's great. You're very excited.
But when you-- you got that special talent…
and you-- [clears throat] You-- [sighs]
you-- [clears throat] Inside of you,
you cannot push it the way it should be pushed.
Super sad.
And I-- [clears throat] And I always remember there's a song--
there's a movie and a song that I saw.
One was, uh, Good Will Hunting.
-Look, you got something none of us have. -Oh, come on. I'm--
And I was in Philly when I saw the movie. I remember I went to see it alone.
Why is it always this?
I fucking owe it to myself to do this? What if I don't want to?
[Chuckie] No, no, no. No, fuck you. You don't owe it to yourself.
You owe it to me.
'Cause tomorrow, I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50.
And I'll still be doing this shit.
And that's all right. That's fine.
I mean, you're sitting on a winning lottery ticket
and you're too much of a pussy to cash it in.
And that's bullshit.
'Cause I'd do fucking anything to have what you got.
So would any of these fucking guys.
And really, it made me pause.
And years later, there was a song by Eminem.
You know, you have one chance.
Man, I was-- I was there.
You don't force yourself to do it.
If you force yourself, it ain't gonna work.
It's in you and that's it. [sighs]
The career with Philly was over.
They finally traded me to Tampa, the worst team in the league.
That didn't last long.
Alexandre Daigle, a top overall pick five years ago,
traded to the Rangers from Tampa for future considerations.
He came in and actually played very, very well for us.
I'll never forget a play where he was going up the ice through traffic,
and somebody made a terrible pass.
Just caught it with his hand, threw it around,
put it back on his stick, went in and scored.
[announcer] Daigle shoots, he scores! Alexandre Daigle!
That was a nice goal. Bad pass, though. Geez.
MacLean, the fuck?
[Brisson] He would do things on the ice where you would just see a glimpse. Wow.
Like, there's only a few people I've ever seen
who could do what he just did.
[Smith] But when he didn't do that, uh, he was a very frustrating player.
[Mailloux] I think he had enough then. He was physically and mentally exhausted.
The Rangers are fighting for their playoff lives.
There's fear in their locker room,
and their fearless leader, head coach John Muckler, says that's okay.
[Alex] John Muckler come in for a meeting.
He went through the room to the superstars.
What does it mean to make the playoff?
We expect you to get more emotion.
[Alex] Most of the guys was like,
playoff in New York, the fans, and this and that.
And out of the blue, Muckler asked me, "Daigle, what is it for you?"
I'm sitting in the back, just-- You can barely see me.
And I-I spurt out-- I said, "Uh, well, it might mean a new contract." [chuckles]
"Wrong answer."
Well, I said, "John, with all due respect, if you look at it,
if we don't make the playoff, we're all gonna be gone."
"Still the wrong answer." [chuckles] And he left the room.
[reporter] What's the problem with Daigle?
Uh… [sighs] …I didn't think he was playing well. That's all I wanna say about it.
That was my last game. I never played again for the Rangers. [chuckles]
I was 25. I didn't have any commitment. I didn't have any offers.
Really wanna do stuff differently and my way, and--
But I was not missing any of the hockey stuff.
And I was like, "Hey, man, that's a sign. [chuckles] Let's take a break."
I think life goes up and down, and there's a lot of curves out there,
and there's no blueprint.
How you deal with it, yeah, it could be darkness,
but it's better darkness before down than down in darkness. [chuckles]
You know, the way I am, is I live in the moment.
All right, we're traveling to Boston. Get the bus. Get to the rink.
Skates. Brand new skates. Okay, great.
You don't see the big picture from the outside.
What's dear to my heart is,
people don't believe that I was loving the game.
But no, I love the game. Played for so many years,
and I had a great time and great memories. And it shaped my life.
And I arrived at a point I was just growing up. [chuckles]
Just, you know, uh, doing stuff that kids were doing. Never did.
For me, it was more, "Okay, let's travel, let's have fun.
Let's, uh, not have a care in the world."
At the beginning, it's super fun. But after that,
you're looking around, you know, "What am I doing?"
I started playing in a bar league in LA and it was super competitive.
That's where that process of missing it
and having a direction in your life comes in.
When you're trapped in it, you don't see it.
You don't see how great you have it or, you know,
what type of-- of fulfillment you get doing it.
Michael! Yeah! [chuckles] Oh!
Sometimes, it's-- it's your job, so you feel like it's-- you're trapped,
but it's an amazing thing to do.
Actually, we were sitting together at one of those games for fun,
and-- on the bench.
He said, I wanna talk to you in the locker room after the game.
I said, "Yeah."
So we sit together, he says, "You know what?"
He says, "I wanna make a comeback."
And I look at him, "You serious, Daigle?" He says, "No, I am."
Mario Lemieux was here, actually, working out.
Alex mentioned that he wanted to come back,
and they gave him a tryout.
[Alex] I have a lot of confidence in myself.
So I knew, if I get the opportunity, I'm gonna do well.
And yeah, I never blinked.
[Brisson] He was very determined.
And when Alex puts his mind into something,
and he's very stubborn, and he's focused and-- He made the team.
[Alex] I wanna play. I wanna have fun. I wanna enjoy it.
It's a great game. It's a great life. And I made the best out of it.
I got sent down, but it was a good thing for me.
I got my legs back.
[announcer] Daigle is a shorthanded master. Look at him fly out there.
[Alex] I had fun.
[announcer] Daigle winds up, fires and scores!
A rocket blast from Alexandre Daigle.
[Alex] The next year, Jacques was willing to give me a chance,
and I went to training camp without a contract again,
and I had my best season ever.
[announcer] He makes the play. He ties the game.
-[crowd cheering] -[announcer] Alex Daigle!
[reporter] Got 18 goals on the year. Forget how many goals he's scored.
Alexandre Daigle has his passion for the game.
[Berra] The second time around, he was just a little bit more,
you know, this is who I am, and if you don't like it, too bad.
[Alex] I didn't feel like it was a make or break if I played well or not.
I was just part of the team, and it was, "Okay, you do your stuff."
Great job by Daigle.
Watching him grow as a player and as a man really makes you proud of him.
And guess what?
While you were calling that first period, he scored his 19th.
[announcer] Daigle 27 seconds in.
-It's a break out of the box. He scores. -[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Picks up his 20th goal of the season.
[Brisson] So, immediately, when he had that great season--
he had the 20 goals, he had an amazing year--
we're looking forward to an extension and another, you know,
continuity of this whole thing.
And then there's a full lockout, and we missed out on a full year.
I got approached to go to Europe,
and, uh, my girlfriend at the time, that became my wife,
it was a no-brainer. Yeah, let's try this. It seems awesome.
No clue what I was getting into.
The only thing I knew was I had a contract for two years,
and I'm going to Switzerland.
[Berra] I remember him driving me out in this snowstorm to go to this restaurant.
We had, like, three feet of snow the night before.
And, like, you're driving on this road that has a wall of ice on both sides,
and we're in a-a club-issued hatchback, fishtailing all over the place.
And there was no seat belt. Super nervous.
And Alex is just in the front seat, just super chill,
one hand on the steering wheel, completely relaxed.
And I just remember thinking, "Well, if that's not, you know,
indicative of where he is in his life
as opposed to where he was five years ago, ten years ago,
I don't know what is."
He just was so much more comfortable over there.
[Alex] It's a different life.
And it's a different way to approach hockey that I really loved.
[Berra] Playing in the National Hockey League, traveling all the time,
if you don't have a certain mentality, that is really going to wear on you.
And the Swiss League was, like, the polar opposite to that.
You walk down… [chuckles] …and just play your game and go back home.
It was-- Like, it's not--
There's not a big process involved into the game.
I'm so happy I did it.
And we started a family, just amazing. Couldn't ask for more there.
[Berra] I remember walking into that arena the first night.
The first time he touches the puck, he gets the puck, and bam! He's gone.
I got respected right away. And I had a good ride from then on.
[announcer 1, in German] Daigle gets the pass and scores!
[announcer 2] Daigle is the team's top scorer.
[Alex, in English] We won two championships. It was just amazing.
[announcer 1 speaking German]
[Berra] So, my ESPN magazine story, the headline ends up being
"It's a Long Road From Great to Grateful."
I think Alex got to a point where he was able to look at his life and say,
"It may not be exactly what everyone else wanted it to be,
but it was still pretty darn good."
Pregame.
Huh?
Now I'm coaching. I'm coaching my son,
and reminds me of the time I was doing it with my dad.
And my dad was talking to me about life, about the game.
And always in a positive tone. And always looking bright to the future.
If I could teach that lesson to my kids, everything will be worth it.
Vince?
-[Vince speaking French] -[speaking French]
It's hockey, it's soccer practice and a school play.
This is what it-- it's all about.
Go, go, go, go!
It's a good life.
[in French] I'm very proud.
I followed his career from mini mites to the NHL.
It always went well.
Could it have been better?
Could it have been worse?
But, in general, it was great.
And as a father, I think he's… perfect, maybe better than me.
[both laughing]
-Yes! -[chuckles]
[both chuckle, speak French]
[speaking French, chuckles]
[in English] Yeah, no, I really enjoyed it.
Uh, I gotta admit, I-- There's a lot of-- A lot more--
Way more positive out of this than I thought.
And I look at it, I'm saying, "Geez. Uh, it's not that bad."
Uh, and that wasn't-- That was not the view I had.
So, thank you, but, uh, I have to go, my friend. [chuckles]
I loved it. Send me the tape. [sighs]
-[announcer] Alexandre Daigle! -[crowd cheering]
[in French] This is a moment I will remember all my life.
Wherever I go, this will always be my home.
[crowd cheering]