In Hindsight, where would Daigle and Stefan go in their draft class?
Where would you have put them? I still think they would have gotten drafted but I think Daigle would have been a 4-5th round pick and stefan a 7-8th round pick.
Yeah Stefan still goes late first round. Martin Havlat is arguably the best player in that draft. Good player, not great and will never reach the hall of Fame so there hasnt been any true superstar. If you drafted Stefan as the intention of having him as a 2nd liner you probably wouldnt have been to upset. Same with Daigle. Lower his expectations and you'd be happy with what he did
havlat is a great player from the 1999 draft however, i would argue zetterberg is the best of the bunch. in hindsight, my top six would be:
1. henrik zetterberg
2. daniel sedin
3. henrik sedin
4. martin havlat
5. ryan miller
6. mike comrie
stefan would definitely go late first, early second round.
Daigle was not that bad of a player, if he wasn't saddled with the pressure of being a franchise, offense-only player, he would have been a serviceable player. Jacques Lemaire finally got him playing defense.
Players from the 1993 draft who have had better careers than Daigle:
Chris Pronger
Paul Kariya
Jason Arnott
Saku Koivu
Jamie Langenbrunner
Todd Bertuzzi
Bryan McCabe
Manny Legace
Kenny Jonsson
Miroslav Satan
Pavol Demitra
Vaclav Prospal
Kimmo Timonen
Eric Daze
Brendan Morrison
Jason Allison
Jay Pandolfo
Rob Niedermayer
Andrew Brunette
German Titov
Todd Marchant
Darcy Tucker
Adam Deadmarsh
Viktor Kozlov
Janne Niinimaa
Mike Grier
Niklas Sundstrom
Todd Harvey
Chris Gratton
Jocelyn Thibault
Brendan Witt
David Vyborny
Shean Donovan
Marek Malik
Hal Gill
Tommy Salo
Patrick Lalime
Scott Walker
That's 38. And those are just the definites. There's about 10 players from that draft who have arguably been better than Daigle (Pederson, Pratt, Van Impe, etc.). But even if you ignore those guys, you would still have to take 13 players off the above list to make room for Daigle to have him in the 1st round.
There's no way Daigle was a 1st rounder. Mid to late 2nd rounder at best.
Don't be fooled by his point totals. They don't tell you about the cherry-picking or the fact that he was quite possibly the worst defensive forward in the NHL at the time.
Having said that, I blame the Senators (specifically Randy Sexton) for how his career turned out. They promoted him as the savior, then when he wasn't immediately as good as advertised, the fans turned on him which sapped his desire and love for the game. A year in the AHL to learn the pro game away from the media pressure would've helped immensely. But Randy Sexton wouldn't think of sending a player to the minors after using him as the face of their marketing campaign.
Yeah Stefan still goes late first round. Martin Havlat is arguably the best player in that draft. Good player, not great and will never reach the hall of Fame so there hasnt been any true superstar. If you drafted Stefan as the intention of having him as a 2nd liner you probably wouldnt have been to upset. Same with Daigle. Lower his expectations and you'd be happy with what he did
Daigle also didn't really care all that much and as admitted as such
but maybe if he had been a late second round pick he wouldn't have had so much pressure and scrutiny to deal with and might have enjoyed it more, helping his development
he had the talent: maybe the spotlight ruined him early in his career
I think if the Daigle pick had gone to Quebec in exchange for Peter Forsberg, his career probably could have been closer to what was expected, if he had been surrounded by young talent like Sakic, Sundin, Nolan, etc, he probably would have had the chance to develop at his own pace.
Using my draft spreadsheet, here are how I'd rank the careers of the players drafted in 1993 and 1999:
1993:
Hartford Chris Pronger
Anaheim Paul Kariya
Los Angeles Kimmo Timonen
Mtl. Canadiens Saku Koivu
NY Islanders Todd Bertuzzi
Ottawa Pavol Demitra
Toronto Kenny Jonsson
Washington Jason Allison
NY Islanders Bryan McCabe
Edmonton Miroslav Satan
Edmonton Jason Arnott
Chicago Eric Daze
Quebec Jocelyn Thibault
New Jersey Brendan Morrison
NY Islanders Tommy Salo
Tampa Bay Chris Gratton
Florida Rob Niedermayer
San Jose Viktor Kozlov
Quebec Adam Deadmarsh
Edmonton David Vyborny
Dallas Jamie Langenbrunner
Philadelphia Janne Niinimaa
Florida Kevin Weekes
Philadelphia Vaclav Prospal
Vancouver Scott Walker
Mtl. Canadiens Darcy Tucker
Pittsburgh Patrick Lalime
Washington Andrew Brunette
Calgary German Titov
Ottawa Alexandre Daigle
NY Rangers Niklas Sundstrom
Washington Brendan Witt
Hartford Marek Malik
NY Rangers Todd Marchant
Hartford Manny Legace
Boston Hal Gill
Detroit Anders Eriksson
Boston Shawn Bates
Anaheim Mikhail Shtalenkov
Winnipeg Michal Grosek
NY Islanders Darren Van Impe
St. Louis Mike Grier
So Daigle, as the 30th37th best player, would be an early to mid second rounder.
1999:
210 Detroit Henrik Zetterberg
26 Ottawa Martin Havlat
138 Buffalo Ryan Miller
2 Vancouver Daniel Sedin
83 Anaheim Niclas Havelid
3 Vancouver Henrik Sedin
91 Edmonton Mike Comrie
5 NY Islanders Tim Connolly
17 St. Louis Barret Jackman
21 Boston Nick Boynton
76 Los Angeles Frantisek Kaberle
40 Florida Alex Auld
44 Anaheim Jordan Leopold
115 Pittsburgh Ryan Malone
191 Nashville Martin Erat
212 Colorado Radim Vrbata
1 Atlanta Patrik Stefan
11 Calgary Oleg Saprykin
42 New Jersey Mike Commodore
101 NY Islanders Juraj Kolnik
8 NY Islanders Taylor Pyatt
9 NY Rangers Jamie Lundmark
10 NY Islanders Branislav Mezei
16 Carolina Dave Tanabe
52 Nashville Adam Hall
70 Florida Niklas Hagman
78 NY Islanders Mattias Weinhandl
93 Colorado Branko Radivojevic
94 Ottawa Chris Kelly
155 San Jose Niko Dimitrakos
204 Pittsburgh Tom Kostopoulos
217 Atlanta Garnet Exelby
228 NY Islanders Radek Martinek
230 Anaheim Petr Tenkrat
232 St. Louis Alexander Khavanov
247 Boston Mikko Eloranta
With Stefan being the 17th-20th best player in that year, I'd call him easily a mid-first rounder.
Some revisionist history in the thread. Althought it's true that there were high expectations for Daigle in Ottawa, and he might even have been dubbed another "Next One" at one point, his biggest problem was himself. He was only there to pick up a paycheck. That, and frolocking around with Pamela Anderson was enough for him.
They'd probably go just after pretty much everyone that was taken that year and still plays in the NHL. So, probably still in the first or very early second round.
Ottawa took centers w/ their 1st rd picks three straight years and brought them all in to the NHL as teenagers (Yashin, Daigle, Bonk). Perhaps if they any wingers to pass to (or a defensive defenseman so they wouldn't give up 4+ goals a game), all three would have turned out better.
Top scoring wingers for OTT in 1993-94: Bob Kudelski (26 goals in half a season before being traded) and Dave McLlwain (17). No one else above 11.
Top scoring wingers for OTT in 1994-95*: Sylvain Turgeon (11). No one else above 8.
* lockout-shortened season.
Yes, they were an expansion team. But the other expansion teams from the early 90s had more scorers (and better goaltending due to the rule change allowing NHL backups available) ...
SJ in 1991-92: Two 20+ goal scorers (top: 25), three more 12+
TB in 1992-93: Two 20+ goal scorers (top: 42), six more 12+
ANA in 1993-94: Two 20+ goal scorers (top: 23), seven more 12+
FLA in 1993-94: One 20+ goal scorer (top: 30), nine more 12+
actually According to a tsn story Ottawas brass was very tempted by a young (very pale) paul kariya (damn those main winters as first overall. Boy imagine how much better it would've been for them to get he mature thoughtful kariya instead of diagle who truly didn't have the work ethic to match the demands on him.
"Saying he didn't want to be a hockey player from the time he was drafted by the QMJHL's Victoriaville Tigres as a 16-year-old, Daigle maintained he only followed the hockey dream in attempt to make his father, Jean-Yves, proud."
Using my draft spreadsheet, here are how I'd rank the careers of the players drafted in 1993 and 1999:
1993:
Hartford Chris Pronger
Anaheim Paul Kariya
Los Angeles Kimmo Timonen
Mtl. Canadiens Saku Koivu
NY Islanders Todd Bertuzzi
Ottawa Pavol Demitra
Toronto Kenny Jonsson
Washington Jason Allison
NY Islanders Bryan McCabe
Edmonton Miroslav Satan
Edmonton Jason Arnott
Chicago Eric Daze
Quebec Jocelyn Thibault
New Jersey Brendan Morrison
NY Islanders Tommy Salo
Tampa Bay Chris Gratton
Florida Rob Niedermayer
San Jose Viktor Kozlov
Quebec Adam Deadmarsh
Edmonton David Vyborny
Dallas Jamie Langenbrunner
Philadelphia Janne Niinimaa
Florida Kevin Weekes
Philadelphia Vaclav Prospal
Vancouver Scott Walker
Mtl. Canadiens Darcy Tucker
Pittsburgh Patrick Lalime
Washington Andrew Brunette
Calgary German Titov
Ottawa Alexandre Daigle
NY Rangers Niklas Sundstrom
Washington Brendan Witt
Hartford Marek Malik
NY Rangers Todd Marchant
Hartford Manny Legace
Boston Hal Gill
Detroit Anders Eriksson
Boston Shawn Bates
Anaheim Mikhail Shtalenkov
Winnipeg Michal Grosek
NY Islanders Darren Van Impe
St. Louis Mike Grier
So Daigle, as the 30th37th best player, would be an early to mid second rounder.
1999:
210 Detroit Henrik Zetterberg
26 Ottawa Martin Havlat
138 Buffalo Ryan Miller
2 Vancouver Daniel Sedin
83 Anaheim Niclas Havelid
3 Vancouver Henrik Sedin
91 Edmonton Mike Comrie
5 NY Islanders Tim Connolly
17 St. Louis Barret Jackman
21 Boston Nick Boynton
76 Los Angeles Frantisek Kaberle
40 Florida Alex Auld
44 Anaheim Jordan Leopold
115 Pittsburgh Ryan Malone
191 Nashville Martin Erat
212 Colorado Radim Vrbata
1 Atlanta Patrik Stefan
11 Calgary Oleg Saprykin
42 New Jersey Mike Commodore
101 NY Islanders Juraj Kolnik
8 NY Islanders Taylor Pyatt
9 NY Rangers Jamie Lundmark
10 NY Islanders Branislav Mezei
16 Carolina Dave Tanabe
52 Nashville Adam Hall
70 Florida Niklas Hagman
78 NY Islanders Mattias Weinhandl
93 Colorado Branko Radivojevic
94 Ottawa Chris Kelly
155 San Jose Niko Dimitrakos
204 Pittsburgh Tom Kostopoulos
217 Atlanta Garnet Exelby
228 NY Islanders Radek Martinek
230 Anaheim Petr Tenkrat
232 St. Louis Alexander Khavanov
247 Boston Mikko Eloranta
With Stefan being the 17th-20th best player in that year, I'd call him easily a mid-first rounder.
How can you seperate the two Sedins with Niclas Havelid in between? The Sedins have had almost identical careers and I wouldn't take Havelid over either of them. Ryan Miller, you can make a case for, but definitely not Havelid.
Why? alot of people dont like their job but if it pays well alot of people will put up with it atleast for awhile. I am sure Daigle is more than happy with how healthy his bank account looked after those NHL contracts.
Using my draft spreadsheet, here are how I'd rank the careers of the players drafted in 1993 and 1999:
1993:
..... Boston Hal Gill
Detroit Anders Eriksson Boston Shawn Bates
Anaheim Mikhail Shtalenkov
Winnipeg Michal Grosek NY Islanders Darren Van Impe St. Louis Mike Grier
No offense, but if you think Hal Gill, Shawn Bates, and Darren Van Impe have all had better careers than Grier, then you just aren't watching the games.
No offense, but if you think Hal Gill, Shawn Bates, and Darren Van Impe have all had better careers than Grier, then you just aren't watching the games.
Hummm... There were worse players than Bates, Gill amongst thoses you haven't bolded.
as first overall. Boy imagine how much better it would've been for them to get he mature thoughtful kariya instead of diagle who truly didn't have the work ethic to match the demands on him.
