Pierre Dagenais was born March 4, 1978 in Blainville, Quebec. The second round, 47th overall selection of the New Jersey Devils in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, Dagenais is a graduate of the QMJHL.
An offensively gifted forward, Dagenais played three seasons in the QMJHL with stops in Moncton, Laval and Rouyn-Noranda tallying 150 goals and 116 assists for 266 points in 197 games before making his professional debut in the fall of 1998. After originally being drafted by New Jersey in 1996, Dagenais and the Devils were unable to reach a deal and the talented forward re-entered the draft in 1998 and was promptly selected once again by New Jersey, this time in the fourth round, 105th overall.
Dagenais spent the better part of his first three seasons in the AHL with the Albany River Rats where had seasons of 17, 35 and 34 goals before making his NHL debut with the parent club during the 2000-01 season. After beginning the 2001-02 season with the Devils organization Dagenais was obtained off waivers by the Florida Panthers in January of 2002 and spent the latter stages of the 2001-02 season in Florida.
In 2002-03 Dagenais spent the better part of the season with the Panthers AHL affiliate in San Antonio while seeing limited action with the parent club before being acquired by the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 2003. Upon his arrival in Montreal, the former QMJHL star spent the majority of the 2003-04 season with the big club, registering 27 points (17-10-27) while seeing limited action with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs.
