Daigle's life in hockey profiled in new Amazon Original documentary

Alexandre Daigle initially didn't see any purpose participating in a documentary about his life in hockey.

"I didn't feel it was going to change my life in any way," Daigle said.

It took him some time to come around to the idea, and because he did, the No. 1 pick in the 1993 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators who never came close to living up to the hype he had as an 18-year-old, is indeed a changed man.

"Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle," an Amazon Original hockey documentary produced in collaboration with NHL Productions, launched on Prime Video Canada on Friday and will be available on ESPN+ in the United States on Saturday.

The documentary follows Daigle's life from 15-year-old phenom to 18-year-old No. 1 draft pick to superstar status in Canada as the great hope for the Senators to NHL bust by the time he was 25, mentally burnt from his failure to live up to the expectations the hockey world had for him.

Daigle joins the viewer for the journey, watching highlights and interviews, and discussing the inner struggles with money and fame he was dealing with as a young player.

"Because a lot of people ask me about it, it's a subject of conversation, it's all about the past and my career, and now it's an opportunity to get it out there," Daigle said. "That's why I did it. That's how I lived it. And it's done. We're not talking about it anymore. We can, but you can go watch the doc on Prime."

Daigle said it was emotional for him to relive his playing career while filming the documentary.

There are highlights of his and commentary from former Senators general manager Randy Sexton in the movie that he had never seen or heard before.

Former ESPN writer Lindsay Berra is featured talking about visiting Daigle in Switzerland in 2007, after he left the NHL, and what she witnessed for her story that appeared in ESPN The Magazine.

She says she saw a player who had the passion and love for the game at a time when most people around the NHL wondered if he did.

"There was a lot of perspective, a lot of people that talk in the doc and I didn't think they had that view of the situation," Daigle said. "I just felt that I had to explain and explain over and over again that I was 18 years old and having cash and being in Canada and being on one of the worst teams in the history of the League. I was like, 'How many times to do I have to explain that?' Those people in there, they were all pretty much singing the same tune and having the same insight looking back at what I was living. That was a big eye opener for me like, 'OK, I'm not that wrong.' "

Daigle's late father, Jean-Yves Daigle, is also featured. He died shortly after filming of the documentary finished.

"My dad at that time too had six months to live and we had a chance to get him in a week that he was in great shape," Daigle said. "That was good timing for that, but when I watch it now, when those questions were coming at me with all those cameras, it's like I'm reliving it and it's stressful and I'm sweating at times.

"In a sense it makes no sense because it's 30 years ago, but your body, your mind, it gets you back in there. A lot of the time you second doubt yourself doing a doc, reliving those moments, but when you bring all those people saying diverse things, like Lindsay talking about a lot of things that I didn't see, and she saw clearly at that point in my life. I didn't see it that way, but now I know she was right. It makes me feel great, but when I was doing it, going to do interviews, it was a lot."

Daigle said as the filming and editing for the documentary went on it got easier for him to do.

"But it's still easier now seeing it than going through it," he said. "When I was doing it, I didn't understand the final product, what it was going to be. I understand you want to talk about my life, my career, going forward, but what am I saying and why am I doing it. I didn't get that. I didn't understand it."

He does now.

"It's just a big release," Daigle said.