Zigmund Palffy

[Felidae]

Always been impressed with him looking at the stats. Only 600+ games played but finished top 10 in points 4 times, top 10 in goals 3 times. Played the majority of his career in the dead puck Era and was a point per game player in all but 3 of his 12 seasons. 2 of those being his rookie and sophomore seasons where he combined for 38 games.

But I want to learn more about him since he's one of the least talked about players I've ever seen for someone of his calibre. So I guess this is a thread for general zigmund palffy talk.

but the main things I want to know are What was his playstyle like? strengths and weaknesses? Any modern day comparable?

Anything notable personality wise? Was he quiet and kept to himself, vocal player or an emotional naslund type?

Where does he rank all time among Slovak players? And do you think he was a hall of fame talent?

Amd lastly, why is he talked about so little? Ive seen lesser players talked about far more.. was it cause not many people watched him play? Or something to do with unremarkable playstyle?

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Feel as if we’re having a Palffy thread every once in a while asking much the same questions, with most agreeing he was truly an underrated star playing for some really woeful and/or forgettable teams.

As for his personality, I think I’ve read stories of him being… a bit funny/odd? I seem to remember @alko telling a story about Palffy being late for a funeral or a wedding because he stopped at a gas station to buy chocolates as a gift for some reason, or something to that effect? I have no idea, haha.

I also remember Ryan Whitney and Sidney Crosby talking about him on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. Palffy was brought to the Penguins after the lockout, Crosby and Whitney were both rookies, and they marveled at how good he was since I guess he’d flown under their radars as well throughout his career. Halfway through the season Palffy is sick of playing for that lousy team, basically says screw this and finishes his NHL career without telling anyone.

 

[alko]

I seem to remember @alko telling a story about Palffy being late for a funeral or a wedding because he stopped at a gas station to buy chocolates as a gift for some reason, or something to that effect? I have no idea, haha.

That wasnt me. But yeah, he is (was) a funny guy.

 

[The Pale King]

It was pointed out on this forum recently (by whom, I'm not sure) that he got cheap shotted by Darby Hendrickson or some such in his final season. Just a brutal collision, cutting back up the ice, sort of reminiscent of Messier on Modano. That certainly seemed to have hastened his decision to retire. Anyways, probably my favourite player of all-time. Absolutely lethal on breakaways, silky smooth with speed to burn. One of two jerseys I own, the black/purple sparkle Kings sweaters of the early-00s.

He also looked a bit like 80s singer Limahl of Kajagoogoo/Never Ending Story fame, something I always look for in players.

 

[bobbyking]

deserves the hof over perry

 

[Big Phil]

He gets talked about so little because he spent so much time on a horrendous team in Long Island. A classic "great player on a bad team" guy if there ever was one. But you know, for some reason I never thought of him as the guy with a high batting average and no RBIs if you know what I mean. I always felt Palffy probably wanted to be on a good team and actually would have excelled on a great team. Fit right in. All he had to do was stick around with the Pens for a couple of more seasons and he's there.

A poor man's Mogilny if I could compare. And I mean Mogilny at his best. Because a normal Mogilny was surpassed by Palffy in my opinion.

 

[Big Phil]

deserves the hof over perry

I don't think Perry or Palffy are getting in to be honest. Or at least not if I had a vote.

 

[kudla]

Some of the best now former Slovak players picked him as the most talented out of them.

 

[bobbyking]

I don't think Perry or Palffy are getting in to be honest. Or at least not if I had a vote.

I agree palffy wont because his career was pretty short and didnt get those big milestones like Perry did who for most of his career was a above average 2nd to 3rd liner at best. but I believe Perry has a chance though, sadly

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I've posted a variation of this several times - Corey Perry will almost certainly make the Hall of Fame because his resume checks a lot of boxes. But the entire case is superficial, and falls apart upon a closer look.

• Hart trophy? Yes, Perry won the Hart, which is the single most prestigious award anyone can win. But he was lucky that he had by far the best season of his career when most of the top players had off years - Crosby missed half the year, Ovechkin had his weird two-year slump, Malkin missed half the season, Kane wasn't a superstar yet, Datsyuk missed 30 games, etc.
• Stanley Cup? Yes, Perry won a Stanley Cup. At a minimum, he was definitely less valuable than Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, JS Giguere, Ryan Getzlaf and Samuel Pahlsson. He was roughly on par with Andy McDonald, Francois Beauchemin and Teemu Selanne (and I think there are good arguments for at least two of them over Perry). So he's at best the 6th most valuable player on a Cup winning team, and realistically probably more like 8th. Not bad, but if this is the cornerstone of his Hall of Fame case, it's a weak one.
• Olympic gold medals? Hopefully nobody uses the 2014 Olympic goal as an argument for Perry's induction. He scored 1 point in 6 games on a powerhouse team. His stats were better in 2010 but those 5 points in 7 games look impressive until you realize that most of his production came in blowouts. Of his five points, he scored a goal that made it 7-0 against Norway, then goals that made it 5-1 and 7-2 against Russia. He did score a big goal in the gold medal game but that doesn't make him a Hall of Fame player.

This screenshot is from mid January, but statistically Perry hasn't distinguished himself from Kessel (who was a much better playoff performer), Spezza, Pavelski (who was a better two-way player), Parise, or Wheeler (who's now only three points back, in 125 fewer games played):

Perry was a top twenty scorer just three times in his career. That's a ridiculously low amount for a HOF forward. He brought some toughness and hitting ability to his teams, but I don't think he's substantially better than his numbers make him look. Wheeler, Kessel and Spezza (who nobody consider HOF'ers) each have more years in the top twenty in scoring. Pavelski is tied with Perry (and looks likely to pass him this year). The best thing I can say is Pavelski has one more year in the top twenty than Zach Parise, and that doesn't exactly scream "Hall of Fame".

As I said, I'm nearly certain Perry will earn a spot in the Hall. He checks a lot of boxes - but there was a lot of good luck there, and he isn't noticeably better than a bunch of non-HOF players who didn't have the same peak season, but had higher and less frequent lows.

Back on topic - Palffy was a fantastic player. Easily HOF talent, but sadly he didn't stay healthy enough (or maybe didn't want it enough - people were surprised when he abruptly retired at age 33) to have a HOF career.

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

I don't think Perry or Palffy are getting in to be honest. Or at least not if I had a vote.

i think you’re right. Perry can buy a ticket like the rest of us.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

I don't think Perry or Palffy are getting in to be honest. Or at least not if I had a vote.

Certainly not before Steve Larmer gets in.

 

[The Panther]

As soon as I heard Perry won the Hart trophy, I remember thinking, "This isn't going to age well." I know, I know, you can make a case for him that (weak competition) season, and yadda yadda. But in an ideal world, only truly elite players who are noticeably dominant for their peak periods would ever win Hart trophies. Perry was not that, ever.

His Hart trophy is starting to acquire a Randy-Carlyle-over-Potvin-for-1981-Norris type of stench. So, yeah, it would be a pity if he made the Hall of Fame.

Back on topic: Palffy was a really good player. Five times he was top-10 in goals per game.

 

[MadLuke]

With Theodore, Hall, Perry it will probably stop to be an auto HOF winning the Hart, Gretzky/Howe and other big name multiple winner being so often the winner sur-created that impression by removing some odd winner that would have happened otherwise (say a Mike Liut), not making the hall despite the Hart did occur in the past.

Palffy mullet, choice of helmet, wearing number 68:

Almost no choice thinking a bit of mini Jagr and with that very mid/late 90s shirt style a bit of nostalgia. Would have been nice to see him in is peak on a major team, only 24 playoff games

 

[Big Phil]

i think you’re right. Perry can buy a ticket like the rest of us.

The thing is, I wouldn't put Perry in. But...................my feeling is the HHOF might like him. He has played in a ton of playoff games in his career, won everything you could pretty much possibly win (WJC, Memorial Cup, Olympic Gold, World Cup, Stanley Cup) and who knows this year with Tampa. Perry could be a key contributor in a three peat! Either way, the last two years he was in the Cup final and lost to Tampa. He has sort of hung around and I think the HHOF likes when a guy has his name all over the place in his old age. He's had a pretty good year for a guy his age this season too. I don't know. He has that Hart in 2011 and the Rocket as well. Hard to believe. Now, was he a clutch playoff scorer? Not particularly, but he was on some deep runs in his career. Everyone knows Getzlaf was thought to be better and I think he makes a case for the HHOF, but not Perry.

 

[brachyrynchos]

He was definitelt talented but he had his quirks. Rick DiPietro had said Palffy would often change sticks after shifts that he wouldn't score. When Ziggy was in L.A., Robitaille said Palffy would sometimes talk on the ice and at the puck in part Slovakian and broken English.
Terrible timing with the Isles, he played on the same team w/ Turgeon one year before the Muller trade. I tend to think they could have had some nice chemistry.
There were some decent players and prospects and with a little patience and the Isles not making bad trades Palffy would have had better numbers and more playoff appearances.

*I know what you're thinking, no... I'm not a professional photographer.
Nazdravie! (Cheers?)

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

other than so-cal rivalry i’m not sure what scorey perry is doing in this thread

other RWs palffy has to clear first are middleton, larmer, mogilny, phil the thrill, and kovalchuk played a few RW years too

but yes, perry’s case is very nieuwendyky

that said, palffy’s case is, which tbh i don’t think he has one, is very rick martiny

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

oh the ill-fated 2003 season

the LAPD line played exactly eight games together, spread out over the first two months and change of the season. here are the stats —


[TABLE="class: brtb_item_table"][TBODY][TR][TD]ZP[/TD][TD]G[/TD][TD]A[/TD][TD]P[/TD][TD]+/-[/TD][TD]ESG[/TD][TD]ESA[/TD][TD]PPG[/TD][TD]PPA[/TD][TD]SH[/TD][TD]GWG[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]10/9[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]2[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]10/12[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]10/23[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]12/7[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]2[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]12/10[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]12/11[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]2[/TD][TD]3[/TD][TD]2[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]2[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]12/14[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]2[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]12/15[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD]1[/TD][TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE]

JA	G	A	P	+/-	ESG	ESA	PPG	PPA	SH	GWG
10/9		2	2					2
10/12	2		2	1	1		1			1
10/23	1	1	2	1				1
12/7		2	2	1		2
12/10
12/11	1	2	3	3	1	1		1
12/14	0	2	2			1		1
12/15				1

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

AD	G	A	P	+/-	ESG	ESA	PPG	PPA	SH	GWG
10/9
10/12				1
10/23				-1
12/7	1		1	1	1
12/10	1		1				1
12/11	1	1	2	2	1	1				1
12/14
12/15	1		1	1

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

palffy: 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 pts, +7, 1 ESG, 5 ESA, 4 PPG, 3 PPA, 2 GWG
allison: 4 goals, 9 assists, 13 pts, +6, 2 ESG, 4 ESA, 1 PPG, 5 PPA, 1 GWG
deader: 4 goals, 1 assist, 5 pts, +4, 2 ESG, 1 ESA, 1 PPG, 1 GWG


LA had a 5-2-1 record, with the line getting all five GWGs (mathieu schneider got the one unaccounted for here, assisted by palffy and allison). in the rest of the season, LA put up a 28-34-5-7 record and finished a distant 9th in the west, thirteen points back of edmonton for the last playoff spot.


but palffy had a whale of a year basically by himself. he was known as a do it yourself goal scorer before he got to LA, but 48 assists from the wing in 2003, including 30 ES assists playing mostly with bryan smolinski and derek armstrong, with a little bit of rookie frolov at the end, is no joke.


it was palffy's last full year, allison's last year as a good player, and deadmarsh's last games period, oh what could have been. palffy very nearly led the team in icetime with 22 and a half minutes/game (twelve second behind modry). if i'd had one, i probably would have thrown him my third place hart vote.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Palffy had the misfortune to be a smallish, skillful, happy-go-lucky sort of player at the exact point in time where that type of player was being systematically eliminated by the emphasis on size and toughness and greasy goals.

If he had played 15 years earlier he would likely have had a Denis Savard type career. Instead he ends up getting physically dismantled.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Palffy had the misfortune to be a smallish, skillful, happy-go-lucky sort of player at the exact point in time where that type of player was being systematically eliminated by the emphasis on size and toughness and greasy goals.

If he had played 15 years earlier he would likely have had a Denis Savard type career. Instead he ends up getting physically dismantled.

i wonder, does anybody remember palffy as a prospect? how did he fall go the second round? in what world does a guy like that get taken after the less talented and even smaller ray whitney?

i had my eye on palffy early on because he had two rookie cards, a draft pick card and a canada cup cards. but i don't remember ever actually seeing him play.

he didn't seem to do much, being 19 years old, but it must have been impressive that he made czechoslovakia's canada cup team at all. other than lindros and rucinsky (who was a draft+2), i don't remember anyone else in that draft playing in the canada cup.

he also was on the bronze winning czechoslovakian WJC team that finished behind lindros' team canada and bure's soviet union. he was fifth in scoring, behind doug weight, bure, and rucinsky, who were all a year older, and lindros who was lindros. palffy outscored slava kozlov, who was incredibly highly regarded at the time, plus the guys in his age group like tkachuk, nylander, and stumpel.

 

[Gurglesons]

He rocked.

 

[tarheelhockey]

i wonder, does anybody remember palffy as a prospect? how did he fall go the second round? in what world does a guy like that get taken after the less talented and even smaller ray whitney?

I don't know why Palffy fell, but it doesn't seem like a disgrace to be taken after Whitney, who scored 185 points in his draft year and turned out to be a 25-45-70 type of player in his own right. If anything, it's surprising that he fell below an overage slug like Trevor Halverson.

In retrospect that was a pretty great draft. Plenty of high end talent including Forsberg, Lindros, Niedermayer, Naslund, Ozolinsh, Palffy, Kovalev. And tons of guys who had respectable careers. I'd say that draft went about 50 deep with solid NHL'ers.

 

[Dingo]

i think he was similar in ability and style to Patrick Kane. But he was on terrible teams in the worst era for a small guy.

I remember a period of time when Palffy and Hasek highlights were essentially a fixture every night on Sportsdesk

 

[JackSlater]

Kucherov reminds me of Palffy stylistically, and not all that far off in terms of ability. Really good player on some extremely forgettable teams, good playmaker with a well rounded game, fairly gritty for his size in that he was willing to pay a price to make plays. Smart with great hands, though I don't remember his speed sticking out but that may be wrong.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I don't know why Palffy fell, but it doesn't seem like a disgrace to be taken after Whitney, who scored 185 points in his draft year and turned out to be a 25-45-70 type of player in his own right. If anything, it's surprising that he fell below an overage slug like Trevor Halverson.

In retrospect that was a pretty great draft. Plenty of high end talent including Forsberg, Lindros, Niedermayer, Naslund, Ozolinsh, Palffy, Kovalev. And tons of guys who had respectable careers. I'd say that draft went about 50 deep with solid NHL'ers.

i guess my memory is ray whitney was kind of like a cliff ronning boom or bust, either he'd be a good not great offensive player or he'd be a wildly entertaining draw for your minor league team until he packs it in for europe. i think there was almost no universe anyone thought he would make it to 1,000 pts.

whereas i feel like looking at his record, palffy looks like a sure thing. not a sure star, but a sure player in the league with real talent.

but definitely, that draft was really deep. off the top of my head, longtime very good players like rolston, matvichuk, glen murray, rucinsky, marty lapointe in the first round, and into round three every third or fouth player was a total keeper: konowalchuk, nylander, osgood, stumpel, yannic perreault.