Daigle's Season For The Ages & Montreal Junior Canadiens
Also, some "Today in Hockey History", how Gretzky almost joined the Red Wings, and more.
Welcome to the THW Hockey History Substack newsletter, with all the best from our extensive archives.
In today’s edition, we have a couple “Today in Hockey History” posts, Alexandre Daigle’s season for the ages, a look back at the Montreal Junior Canadiens, how Wayne Gretzky almost joined the Detroit Red Wings, and more.
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Today in Hockey History: Feb. 5
Feb. 5 has had a little bit of everything over the years. We saw one of the coolest moments in All-Star Game history. One of the greatest goaltenders to ever play the game hit a pair of unique milestones. Plus, this date was very busy in both Washington D.C. and Chicago. It is time for our daily trip through National Hockey League history as we look back at all the best memories from this date.
One for the Ages: Alexandre Daigle’s 2003-04 NHL Season
Alexandre Daigle gets an unfair bad rap. “All-time greatest draft bust”, “primadonna”, “completely lacked effort and motivation”. Strong words for any athlete, though maybe at the time that he broke into the NHL they were partially – maybe even mostly – true.
But let us give Daigle his due. While he never became the next Jean Beliveau or Gilbert Perreault, nor did he become the superstar that the Ottawa Senators needed him to be (hindsight is an amazing thing these days), he would eventually redeem himself to a certain extent.
But it is the 2003-04 season with the Minnesota Wild – Daigle’s one for the ages campaign – that forces us to look at him in a different light, and rightfully so. As it turns out, he was not one of the all-time greats – but he wasn’t the biggest bust either.
New York Islanders’ Greatest of All-Time
Many hockey fans might remember the New York Islanders of the 1980s because of their collection of Stanley Cup championships, but those championships were built through careful drafting and key acquisitions.
While the New York Islanders of the late 1970s and early 1980s featured a plethora of future NHL Hall of Famers, the team had a number of players that did their best work when the pressure was on. Even though this list might only contain a select few Islanders, all of the individuals mentioned below were responsible for bringing prominence to Long Island’s only professional sports franchise.
Today in Hockey History: Feb. 4
The greatest player to ever strap on a pair of skates had himself three big nights on this date in National Hockey League history. Both teams in New York had busy nights, while a slew of Hockey Hall of Famers hit personal milestones. Let’s strap into the THW time machine and take a trip back through all the best moments Feb. 4 has provided.
The Greatest Team of All Time: The Montreal Junior Canadiens
Ex-NHL player Bob Sirois wrote a book examining the NHL’s treatment of French Canadian players called Le Quebec mis en echec: la discrimination envers les Quebecois dans le LNH (Quebec body checked: discrimination against Quebecers in the NHL.) The book contends that prejudice is alive and well in the NHL. The author uses numerous statistics to point out that French players are not held in as high esteem as Anglophone peers.
Anyone who saw the movie “The Rocket” or read about that particular time in Canadian history is fully aware that there was some discrimination during the early 1950s but, despite that truth, twenty years later Quebecers got a chance to feel great pride and see dispelled many myths concerning French Canadian hockey players. The source of that pride was not the formidable NHL Canadiens but the Montreal Junior Canadiens.
Today in Hockey History: Feb. 3
This has been a very intriguing date in the history of the National Hockey League. In Detroit, two all-time greats who shared the same last name left their mark. More than a handful of Hockey Hall of Famers set personal milestones. Plus, this has been a memorable day in Edmonton and Washington DC. Let’s take our daily trip back through the years and see the best Feb. 3 has had to offer.
Wayne Gretzky Almost Joined the Detroit Red Wings
It’s been 35 years since the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Los Angeles Kings that sent shock waves throughout Edmonton, all of Canada, and the entire hockey world.
ESPN’s 30 For 30 franchise featured the trade in one of their documentaries, interviewing all parties involved and chronicling the events that led up to and consequently followed the seismic trade. In the documentary, Gretzky mentioned that he was allowed to pick his next destination and that decision ultimately came down to two teams: the Kings and Detroit Red Wings. The Kings traded a fortune for Gretzky and the rest was history.