Flashback to 1999: LA Kings Acquire Ziggy Palffy from New York Islanders

[Ziggy Stardust]

It was 14 years ago today, June 20, 1999, where the Kings were finally able to acquire the superstar winger they had been coveting for years. After having failed to acquire Pavel Bure, then Theo Fleury during the 1998-99 season, the Kings aggressively pursued Islanders holdout Zigmund Palffy.

Initially, the Islanders had dealt Palffy to the Rangers in what was perceived to be a cash transaction. This was not permitted in the NHL and Bettman ended up vetoing the trade. The league also vetoed the initial Palffy trade to Los Angeles as it appeared to be a cost cutting trade for the Islanders.
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/item_6rWclVX04dP9zLYCOhoPnI

Irate over ownership's attempts to negotiate side deals with Cablevision that would have undermined guidelines regarding cash involved in player transactions, the commissioner summoned Howard Milstein and Steve Gluckstern to Manhattan to inform them that he would now not permit the inclusion of any amount of cash in any trade for Zigmund Palffy, The Post has learned.

In addition, the league yesterday did not approve an informally-submitted deal that would have sent Palffy, Brian Smolinski, Mike Watt and minor league goaltender Marcel Cousineau to the Kings for B-level prospects Mathieu Biron, Scott Barney and Josh Green, minor league forward Jason Podollan, and the eighth overall pick in the June 26 Entry Draft.

Palffy's trade to Los Angeles was finally completed and accepted by the NHL once Olli Jokinen was included as part of the package going to Long Island.

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/21/sports/sp-48759

Taylor, the Kings' senior vice president and general manager, was finally made to realize that, even under the New York Islanders' fire-sale terms, the only way to get right winger Zigmund Palffy for the Staples Center marquee was to part with Jokinen, a center who was the team's first choice in the 1997 entry draft.

That the Kings did, agreeing to send Jokinen, left wing prospect Josh Green, defenseman prospect Mathieu Biron and their 1999 first-round draft choice--No. 8 overall--to the Islanders for Palffy, center Bryan Smolinski, backup goalie Marcel Cousineau and a fourth-round draft choice in a deal that gives the Kings a present at the possible expense of a future.

"Olli was the first player that I drafted," Taylor said. "It was difficult to trade him. I think we've given up a significant package of young assets. But with the opportunity to acquire Ziggy Palffy and the others in the package, we had to do it."

In effect, the trade gave the Islanders the Kings' No. 1 choice in 1997 (Jokinen), '98 (Biron) and Saturday's entry draft.

But the Kings, who were 25th in scoring in 1998-99 with 189 goals, have Palffy, a 27-year-old right winger who scored 43, 48 and 45 goals in three full NHL seasons beginning in 1995-96 and had 50 points in as many games this past season.

He also is a power-play factor, twice having scored 17 man-advantage goals in a season. The Kings were 24th in the power play this season.

"He's a marquee player, one of most exciting players in the game," Taylor said. "Every time he touches the puck he does something clever. . . . We've added a very exciting player to the lineup and a No. 2 center [Smolinski]. There is a possibility we've added 50 or 60 goals to the lineup."

The trade was completed just before the 2 p.m. PDT Sunday deadline, after which rosters were frozen for the expansion draft. It was approved by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who had said he would review any transaction involving the Islanders.

The Islanders are trying to jettison some of their payroll after losing more than $20 million this season, and they are being rebuffed by government officials in the team's attempt to get a new arena.

Although Palffy's tenure with the Kings lasted for only five seasons, he was one of the most exciting players to don a Kings uniform.



Imagine having a winger like Palffy in his prime playing with a center like Kopitar or Richards. Adding a gamebreaking forward like that to the offense would propel the Kings scoring to the upper ranks of the NHL. Here's to you Ziggy!

Click to read more...

 

[Cook24]

Damnit Zigs don't do that to me. At first all I saw was kings acquire and my heart dropped...

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I had heard the rumored Jason Podallan, Biron, Green , etc trade and freaked out when I found out that Olli J was in the deal.


In the long run the Kings won this trade, but **** Bettman for **** blocking the first trade.


This trade was also symbolic of the Leiweike pulling Taylor's puppet strings era. Do just enough to turn some heads, but never enough to push the Kings over the top. Suck it Tim!

 

[DapperDan]

I'm a fan of nostalgia but this oughta be closed on account of possible heart attack.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I still don't think the Kings as an organization were ready for this deal at the time. It sold a few more seats, and got the Kings back to the playoffs after the sweep in 98, but the depth just wasn't there. On the roster, to take full advantage of Palffy, or in the system, to withstand the lose of Jokinen, and other high picks including the 99 1st rounder.

None of those players the Kings dealt ended up being better than Palffy, and it was a good deal at the time, as well as looking back on it. Just not sure it was the right deal when it was made.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I had heard the rumored Jason Podallan, Biron, Green , etc trade and freaked out when I found out that Olli J was in the deal.


In the long run the Kings won this trade, but **** Bettman for **** blocking the first trade.


This trade was also symbolic of the Leiweike pulling Taylor's puppet strings era. Do just enough to turn some heads, but never enough to push the Kings over the top. Suck it Tim!

Seriously. I'm at work so too lazy to look it up, but I can't imagine that many trades have been vetoed/modified over the years. Annoyed that he meddled there...reminds me of the fantasy league commissioner vetoing a trade just because one manager isn't making a good trade. They're big boys, they can make their own decisions!

That said, yum, Palffy. Electrifying. Gave me hope Can't believe that's so long ago already...and can't believe he was still playing in Europe as of even last year!

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I still don't think the Kings as an organization were ready for this deal at the time. It sold a few more seats, and got the Kings back to the playoffs after the sweep in 98, but the depth just wasn't there. On the roster, to take full advantage of Palffy, or in the system, to withstand the lose of Jokinen, and other high picks including the 99 1st rounder.

None of those players the Kings dealt ended up being better than Palffy, and it was a good deal at the time, as well as looking back on it. Just not sure it was the right deal when it was made.

Don't confuse this deal with it's true intent.

It was about putting butts in the seats at Staples. The attempted acquisitions of Bure, Fleury, and Jagr had the same motives.

 

[Sybil227]

It's because of Ziggy Palffy that I learned that Darren Pang is an idiot.
I remember Pang being a commentator during the Kings - Avs playoff series. He pulled up one sequence just to point out how ineffective Palffy was. He kept saying, "Palffy gets knocked down. Palffy gets knocked down." over and over, like a mantra. Completely ignoring the fact that the reason Ziggy kept getting knocked down was the fact that he kept getting the puck back. Despite being knocked down, he controlled the puck & the play along the boards - eventually feeding the slot for a great scoring chance. So the upshot of the sequence was that Ziggy was actually very effective - and Darren Pang was an idiot.
So, thanks Ziggy!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I still don't think the Kings as an organization were ready for this deal at the time. It sold a few more seats, and got the Kings back to the playoffs after the sweep in 98, but the depth just wasn't there. On the roster, to take full advantage of Palffy, or in the system, to withstand the lose of Jokinen, and other high picks including the 99 1st rounder.

None of those players the Kings dealt ended up being better than Palffy, and it was a good deal at the time, as well as looking back on it. Just not sure it was the right deal when it was made.

I don't think that any of the players the Kings gave up would have succeeded here. Took Olli Jokinen a long time to reach his potential, and it didn't last too long.

Also, Smolinski coming in finally gave the Kings a true 2nd line. Smolinski was later dealt for Gleason, who was dealt for Jack Johnson, who was dealt for Jeff Carter. So Smolinski indirectly led the Kings to land a 30-40 goal scorer.

 

[takk]

Personally I find these threads great cause I'm curious about Kings' lore, I became a fan last year in April and I know Kings went through really hard seasons. Palffy was one of the brighter spots so I think it's only natural that people remember his acquisition. That is some trade by the way, giving up straight 3 first rounders. Only Jokinen went onto have an established career, though Pyatt became a solid role player as well.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The Islanders also ended up trading Jokinen (along with Roberto Luongo) to the Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. Such horrible asset management on the part of Mike Milbury, but he's known for being one of the worst and most impatient GMs in the history of the game.

Pyatt never really turned into the power forward he was projected to become. He was packaged with Tim Connolly to Buffalo for Mike Peca, one of Milbury's good moves.

The Kings became a playoff team for three consecutive years with Palffy, however, the team kind of imploded in 2003 with injuries to Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh and they were never able to replace those two enormous holes on the roster and the Kings became a team that was ravaged by injuries during Palffy's last couple years in LA.

 

[TonySCV]

Loved Palffy. First jersey I bought.

 

[Telos]

Was my favorite player in the day. Still have a lot of his memorabilia adorning my walls in my old room back at home... The guy was lightning in a bottle. It was a shame how things ended up, especially right when we acquired Demitra.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Best king since he got acquired to this day. Such a great player. Injuries side tracked him often. My favorite king to this day.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Was my favorite player in the day. Still have a lot of his memorabilia adorning my walls in my old room back at home... The guy was lightning in a bottle. It was a shame how things ended up, especially right when we acquired Demitra.

Sadly, it was apparent that Palffy was not going to be the same player after suffering that last serious shoulder injury courtesy of that ***** Todd Simpson.

Although things never worked out for Palffy in Pittsburgh, it seemed like he enjoyed tons of success when he returned back to his hometown. I think the style of hockey with less contact and physicality overseas really helped him there, plus it seemed like it was his desire to play out the rest of his career in his country. We kind of saw in the Olympics though that Palffy didn't have much left to offer at that stage in his career.

Once he was gone, you tend to appreciate him as a player even more so. Even today, I can't think of that many players who have a similar skill set and speed that Palffy had. He was able to make plays at a high rate of speed. Patrick Kane comes to mind, though I don't think he has the same blistering shot that Ziggy had.

 

[kingsfan28]

I had heard the rumored Jason Podallan, Biron, Green , etc trade and freaked out when I found out that Olli J was in the deal.


In the long run the Kings won this trade, but **** Bettman for **** blocking the first trade.


This trade was also symbolic of the Leiweike pulling Taylor's puppet strings era. Do just enough to turn some heads, but never enough to push the Kings over the top. Suck it Tim!

I'm still confused as to why Bettman needed to step in and wield his magic wand to veto the first deal. So he felt we weren't giving enough and made us throw in our top prospect? Yet he had no problem with the garbage the Blues gave us in the Gretzky trade. To this day I cannot think of another deal where he stepped in and vetoed a deal because he felt it wasn't enough going the other way.

 

[Ron*]

Personally I find these threads great cause I'm curious about Kings' lore, I became a fan last year in April and I know Kings went through really hard seasons. Palffy was one of the brighter spots so I think it's only natural that people remember his acquisition. That is some trade by the way, giving up straight 3 first rounders. Only Jokinen went onto have an established career, though Pyatt became a solid role player as well.

You want Kings' lore? Check this out.

 

[kingsfan28]

Sadly, it was apparent that Palffy was not going to be the same player after suffering that last serious shoulder injury courtesy of that ***** Todd Simpson.

Although things never worked out for Palffy in Pittsburgh, it seemed like he enjoyed tons of success when he returned back to his hometown. I think the style of hockey with less contact and physicality overseas really helped him there, plus it seemed like it was his desire to play out the rest of his career in his country. We kind of saw in the Olympics though that Palffy didn't have much left to offer at that stage in his career.

Once he was gone, you tend to appreciate him as a player even more so. Even today, I can't think of that many players who have a similar skill set and speed that Palffy had. He was able to make plays at a high rate of speed. Patrick Kane comes to mind, though I don't think he has the same blistering shot that Ziggy had.

I was at that game and I still remember that play. I still don't know why Murray had him out there in the first place with the 4th line, right before Simpson tore his arm out of it's socket.

 

[Ron*]

.
.
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Then there is this classic from the 1970s.

Dave Schultz hawking "Loggins and Messina" at the end of the video. Oy vey.

 

[took420s]

That trade made the kings respectable if even by a little bit after those years of bust trades in the #99 era.

got a kitten 2 years ago...named him ziggy when my wife wanted to name him tito, she now agrees that tito was a stupid name and the cat is obviously a ziggy

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I was a big Palffy fan when he played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles and the Denver Grizzlies in the IHL, he tore that league up.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

One of my favorite and most memorable Palffy goals.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Ziggy spent 5 seasons with the Kings and we made the playoffs 3 out of those 5. He really did change the face of the franchise during those years. Adding Allison and Deadmarsh helped as well...but neither lasted very long. Allison barely 2 seasons and Deadmarsh 2.5. Bummer.

 

[Reaper45]

One of my favorite and most memorable Palffy goals.

I'm probably the only guy to own a Phillipe Boucher Kings jersey and watching that video reminds me of how fuggin ugly he was.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Another classic Palffy goal:



Those hands, that speed... and funny to see a rookie Datsyuk make a critical mistake that leads to Palffy's breakaway and game winning goal.