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Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
This is not entirely accurate. No one that he was the next Mario.
He had a lot of hype, in part because of his big personality, but there were questions early on about his hockey IQ and sense.
His best attribute was his skating - which was all world - but there were questions about how great he would be at the NHL level.
Turned out not great at all.
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Actually, he was very much hyped as the "Next Mario". Lemieux was my favorite player then, and I had both a high degree of skepticism with that, but was also kind of excited to see if he indeed would be the next one. I didn't catch a moment of him playing in Juniors back then, but at 6'0", I couldn't fathom how people made that comparison.
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Ottawa Senators select Alexandre Daigle first in 1993. Billed as the next Mario Lemieux.
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https://books.google.ca/books?id=701...0mario&f=false
https://thegatewayonline.ca/2015/10/...overall-picks/
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Cited as being the next Mario Lemieux after an impressive junior career that saw him average more than two points per game.
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I don't remember anything negative being said about his hockey sense actually, but I will take your word for it. I think his character was what got in the way of his success.
Bobby Mac stated when he got selected that "He isn't the next Wayne Gretzky and he isn't the next Mario Lemieux", but then stated: "He could be the next Roenick or the next Yzerman, or Joe Sakic or Pat Lafontaine, with potential to take it up another notch." (31:10 of this video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doPXTVjmOOA)
He still had a decent career all things considered, but was extremely disappointing given the expectations.