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

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player. One of the most talented wingers, Pálffy played in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

for 12 years with the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

, and

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

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 The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

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, 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

New York Islanders

After a solid season in his native

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and an impressive stint with the Czechoslovakia national team in the

1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1991 WJHC'') was the 15th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held in various communities in Saskatchewan, Canada. Canada won its second consecutive gold medal, and fifth o ...

, Pálffy was drafted by the

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, though 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. The

1995–96 NHL season The 1995–96 NHL season was the 79th regular season of the National Hockey League. As part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed after the 1994–95 NHL lockout, each team began playing 82 games per season. The Queb ...

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 The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

. 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.

Los Angeles Kings

After the season, the Islanders, facing financial woes, traded him and Bryan Smolinski to the

in a deal that saw

Olli Jokinen Olli Veli Pekka Jokinen (born December 5, 1978) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He was selected by the Los Angeles Kings third overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, with whom he made his NHL debut. He has also played for the Ne ...

, Josh Green,

Mathieu Biron Mathieu Biron (born April 29, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played over 250 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). After retiring as a hockey player, he became a firefighter. Playing career As a youth, Biron pl ...

and a first-round draft pick go to the Islanders. 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.

Pittsburgh Penguins and first retirement

After the 2003–04 season, the Kings tried to re-sign Pálffy, but when Pálffy had a phone call with

owner

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984–85 NHL season, 1984 and 2005–06 NHL se ...

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 The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, he 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 abruptly retired from professional hockey. On January 18, 2006, then-Penguins

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

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.

HK 36 Skalica and second retirement

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 The Slovak Extraliga, known as the Tipsport liga since the 2025–26 season for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From 2018–19 to 2020–21, the league included one or two teams from Hungary. Teams fro ...

, 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 has represented

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

in international competitions, winning a gold medal with Slovakia in the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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

and recorded three assists with the team for a total of three points in seven games.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International statistics

Awards and honours

Transactions

* June 9, 1991 – Drafted 26th overall in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the

. * June 19, 1999 – Traded to the Los Angeles Kings with Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau & a

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

4th round pick ( Daniel Johansson) for

, Josh Green,

& a 1999 1st round pick (

Taylor Pyatt Taylor William Pyatt (born August 19, 1981) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, Phoenix Coyo ...

). * 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

. * January 18, 2006 – Announced his retirement. * July 19, 2007 – Signed by HK 36 Skalica (comeback). * September 15, 2011 – Re-signed by HK 36 Skalica. * July 31, 2013 – Announced his retirement.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palffy, Zigmund 1972 births Living people Czechoslovak ice hockey right wingers HK Dukla Trenčín players HC Slavia Praha players HK 36 Skalica players Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Los Angeles Kings players National Hockey League All-Stars New York Islanders draft picks New York Islanders players Olympic ice hockey players for Slovakia Ice hockey people from Skalica Pittsburgh Penguins players Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) players Slovak ice hockey right wingers Slovak people of Hungarian descent Slovak expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Slovak expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic 21st-century Slovak sportsmen