Žigmund Pálffy

Playing career

After a solid season in his native Czechoslovakia and an impressive stint with the Czechoslovak national team in the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Pálffy was drafted by the New York Islanders in the second round of the 1991 NHL Draft, 26th overall. After two more years in Slovakia, Pálffy came to North America for the 1993-94 season. He spent the majority of the 1993–94 season with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, while also making his NHL debut with the Islanders, appearing in five games, though he did not earn a single point. The following season, he split the year between the Islanders and the Denver Grizzlies.

The 1995–96 NHL season saw Pálffy break out as an offensive scorer. In his first game of 1995–96, his team went down one goal but Pálffy would score two goals to lead New York to a 2–1 win over the Florida Panthers. He also scored 87 points in 81 games and quickly became the star of the Islanders franchise. The following two seasons were much the same for Pálffy, scoring 90 and 87 points, respectively. During the 1998–99 season, Pálffy was limited to only 50 games but still played solidly, scoring 50 points. After the season, the Islanders, facing financial woes, traded him and Bryan Smolinski to the Los Angeles Kings in a deal that saw Olli Jokinen, Josh Green, Mathieu Biron, and a first round draft pick go to the Islanders. He was greatly missed by the team's fans, who at that time saw him as the shining star of their turmoiled organization.

With the Kings, Pálffy continued his strong play, often being paired with fellow Slovak Jozef Stümpel and Canadian superstar Luc Robitaille. Injuries, specifically his shoulder, began to limit Pálffy's playing time. During the 2003–04 season, Pálffy's nagging shoulder kept him out of action for the majority of the season. After the 2003–04 season, the Kings tried to resign Pálffy, but when Pálffy had a phone call with Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and gave him his word that he would sign with the Penguins, that ended all negotiations with the Kings. Shortly after the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins for three years and $13.5 million (USD).

After playing 42 games with the Penguins during the 2005–06 season, Palffy abruptly retired from hockey. On January 18, 2006, then-Penguins general manager Craig Patrick told reporters that Pálffy told him he was retiring due to a lingering shoulder injury. Pálffy completed his career with 329 goals and 384 assists for 713 points in 684 games over 12 NHL seasons.

Pálffy has represented Slovakia and Czechoslovakia in international competitions, winning a gold medal with Slovakia in the 2002 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships after he had assisted on Peter Bondra's tournament-winning goal 100 seconds to go in the third period. Following the 2005 World Championships in Austria, Pálffy announced his retirement from the Slovak national team.

Pálffy announced his comeback from retirement in the summer of 2007, and signed a contract to play for his hometown club of HK 36 Skalica for the entire 2007–08 season. He became the most productive player of the regular season in the Slovak Extraliga, gathering 75 points in just 46 games. He also retracted his decision never to play for the Slovak national team again.

Pálffy was named to Slovakia’s 2010 Olympic roster in Vancouver and recorded three assists with the team for a total of three points in seven games.

In July 2013, before the start of the 2013-2014 season, Pálffy announced that it was time to end his long career. He said he was old enough, didn't feel like playing and traveling with the team after so many years, but also that he was going to miss the game of hockey since he lived for it for almost 40 years.

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1990–91	HK Nitra	Czech.	50	34	16	50	18	—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	HK Dukla Trenčín	Czech.	45	41	33	74	36	—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	HK Dukla Trenčín	Czech.	43	38	41	79	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	New York Islanders	NHL	5	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	IHL	57	25	32	57	83	—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	New York Islanders	NHL	33	10	7	17	6	—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Denver Grizzlies	IHL	33	20	23	43	40	—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	New York Islanders	NHL	81	43	44	87	56	—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	New York Islanders	NHL	80	48	42	90	43	—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	HK Dukla Trenčín	Slovak	1	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	New York Islanders	NHL	82	45	42	87	34	—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	New York Islanders	NHL	50	22	28	50	34	—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	9	11	8	19	6	—	—	—	—	—
1999–00	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	64	27	39	66	32	4	2	0	2	0
2000–01	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	73	38	51	89	20	13	3	5	8	8
2001–02	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	63	32	27	59	26	7	4	5	9	0
2002–03	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	76	37	48	85	47	—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	35	16	25	41	12	—	—	—	—	—
2004–05	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	8	10	3	13	6	—	—	—	—	—
2004–05	HC Slavia Praha	Czech	41	21	19	40	30	7	5	2	7	2
2005–06	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	42	11	31	42	12	—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	46	30	45	75	93	13	7	17	24	26
2008–09	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	53	52	47	99	46	17	12	15	27	12
2009–10	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	36	17	36	53	28	6	6	6	12	18
2011–12	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	48	26	57	83	76	6	3	4	7	6
2012–13	HK 36 Skalica	Slovak	39	26	47	73	103	7	3	5	8	2
NHL totals			684	329	384	713	322	24	9	10	19	8
Slovak totals			240	172	243	415	358	49	31	47	78	64

Year	Team	Event	Result	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1991	Czechoslovakia	WJC	03 !	7	7	6	13	2
1991	Czechoslovakia	CC	6th	5	1	0	1	2
1992	Czechoslovakia	WJC	5th	6	3	1	4	6
1994	Slovakia	Oly	6th	8	3	7	10	8
1996	Slovakia	WC	5th	5	2	0	2	10
1996	Slovakia	WCH	—	3	1	2	3	2
1999	Slovakia	WC	7th	6	5	5	10	6
2002	Slovakia	Oly	13th	1	0	0	0	0
2002	Slovakia	WC	01 !	3	1	6	7	2
2003	Slovakia	WC	03 !	9	7	8	15	18
2005	Slovakia	WC	5th	7	5	4	9	10
2010	Slovakia	Oly	4th	7	0	3	3	8
Junior totals				13	10	7	17	8
Senior totals				54	25	35	60	66

Žigmund Pálffy

Biography

Lists

Also Viewed

Quick Facts

Biography

Playing career

Awards

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International statistics

Transactions