Ziggy Palffy

He played right wing for the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1993 to 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.\n', ' After a solid season in his native Czechoslovakia and an impressive stint with the Czechoslovakia 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 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.\n', ' 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.\n', '