Žigmund Pálffy

Žigmund Pálffy (; born 5 May 1972), nicknamed "Ziggy" in English and "Žigo" in Slovak, is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player.

Pálffy played in the NHL for 12 years with the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1993 and 2006. He announced his retirement in January 2006 and his comeback from retirement in the summer of 2007. Pálffy signed a contract to play for his boyhood club HK 36 Skalica in the 2007–08 season and continued to do so until the end of his career. He also retracted his decision from 2005 never to play for the Slovak national team again by participating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he was also the flagbearer. In July 2013, he announced his definite retirement. Pálffy was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2019.

Playing career Pálffy played with the Czechoslovakia national team in the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and 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 in the International Hockey League (IHL) with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, while also making his NHL debut with the Islanders, appearing in five games, although he did not earn a single point. The following season, 1994–95, he split the year between the Islanders and the Denver Grizzlies of the IHL.

In his first game of 1995–96, his team went down one goal but Pálffy scored two goals to lead New York to a 2–1 win over the Florida Panthers. He scored 87 points in 81 games. 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 scored 50 points. After the season, the Islanders 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.

After the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Pálffy signed with the Penguins for three years and US$13.5 million. After playing 42 games with the Penguins during the 2005–06 season, Pálffy retired from professional hockey. On January 18, 2006, then-Penguins general manager Craig Patrick told reporters 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 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, where he led four seasons in points. In July 2013, before the start of the 2013–14 season, Pálffy formally announced his retirement from professional hockey. He said he was old enough and did not 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.

International play

Pálffy represented Slovakia and Czechoslovakia in international competitions, winning a gold medal with Slovakia in the 2002 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. Five years later, Pálffy broke his retirement and was named to the Slovak national team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, recording three assists with the team for a total of three points in seven games.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1990–91 AC/HC Nitra TCH 50 34 16 50 18 — — — — — 1991–92 ASVŠ Dukla Trenčín TCH 32 23 24 47 — 13 18 8 26 — 1992–93 ASVŠ Dukla Trenčín TCH 32 28 29 57 — 11 10 12 22 — 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 HC 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 — — — — — 1999–2000 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

International statistics Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1991 Czechoslovakia WJC 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 10th 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 3 1 6 7 2 2003 Slovakia WC 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

Awards and honours Award Year Czechoslovak Extraliga TCH Champion 1992 Leading Scorer 1992, 1993 Most Goals 1992 Most Assists 1993 Rookie of the Year 1991 NHL All-Star 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 Slovak Extraliga All-Star Team 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 Leading Scorer 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 Most Goals 2009 Most Assists 2012 International World Championship points leader 2003 Winter Olympics points leader and assists 1994 IIHF Hall of Fame 2019 IIHF All-Time Slovakia Team 2020 1998 Ryan Raasch Award

Transactions June 9, 1991 – Drafted 26th overall in the 1991 NHL entry draft by the New York Islanders. June 19, 1999 – Traded to the Los Angeles Kings with Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau & a 1999 4th round pick (Daniel Johansson) for Olli Jokinen, Josh Green, Mathieu Biron & a 1999 1st round pick (Taylor Pyatt). September 15, 2004 – Signed to a lockout contract by SK Slavia Prague. October 7, 2004 – Signed to a lockout contract by HK 36 Skalica. November 16, 2004 – Signed to a lockout contract by SK Slavia Praha. August 6, 2005 – Signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins. January 18, 2006 – Announced his first retirement. July 19, 2007 – Signed by HK 36 Skalica (comeback). September 15, 2011 – Re-signed by HK 36 Skalica. July 31, 2013 – Announced his second retirement.