Zarley Zalapski

[pattyo44]

Zalapski

Very true. He had all the physical tools (he was a very good skater) , but hockey wise was not the brightest bulb.

I went to school with Zarley and stayed in touch with him throughout most of his NHL days. He suffered from an ailment known as Chronic Fatique Syndrome. This ailment made it very difficult for him to have enough rest to keep up with the hectic travel and workout regime of the NHL.
It may not have seemed like he had heart, however he played as hard as he could everynight.
He is now married and a citizen of Switzerland. He plays sporadically with a club in the Swiss league.

Pattyo

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I went to school with Zarley and stayed in touch with him throughout most of his NHL days. He suffered from an ailment known as Chronic Fatique Syndrome. This ailment made it very difficult for him to have enough rest to keep up with the hectic travel and workout regime of the NHL.
It may not have seemed like he had heart, however he played as hard as he could everynight.
He is now married and a citizen of Switzerland. He plays sporadically with a club in the Swiss league.

Pattyo

That's interesting. In Section 330 of the Hartford Civic Center, Zarley's nickname was Calapski. He'd get beat and give up on the play often. This may be why.

He still didn't seem to have a lot of hockey sense. In his 65 point season in Hartford he was a -34, no one else even close.

 

[MS]

I went to school with Zarley and stayed in touch with him throughout most of his NHL days. He suffered from an ailment known as Chronic Fatique Syndrome. This ailment made it very difficult for him to have enough rest to keep up with the hectic travel and workout regime of the NHL.
It may not have seemed like he had heart, however he played as hard as he could everynight.
He is now married and a citizen of Switzerland. He plays sporadically with a club in the Swiss league.

Pattyo

Interesting ... Garry Galley is another ex-NHLer who played through the same ailment.

As I mentioned a couple years ago in this thread, though, it was the blown knee that did in his NHL career ... was never close to the same player afterward.

 

[Stammer Time*]

IIRC, some NHL team invited ZZ to camp not more than 3 or 4 years ago. They cut him pretty quick though.

The Tampa Bay Lightning.

From what I recall he was only in camp for about 3 days.

 

[MXD]

The european page had Zalapski playing in LA after his stint in Pittsburgh..

 

[SopelFan*]

The Tampa Bay Lightning.

From what I recall he was only in camp for about 3 days.

Vancouver gave him a brief try out too.

 

[kaiser matias]

IIRC, some NHL team invited ZZ to camp not more than 3 or 4 years ago. They cut him pretty quick though.

The Canucks invited Zalapski to training camp in 2002.

 

[Badger Bob]

Zalapski's problems were consistency, focus and decision-making. He wasn't slow-footed. In fact, when he entered the league, he was very mobile. He could keep up with the play, and he was very effective at rushing and moving the puck - when he had his head on straight. Zarley's problem was he didn't always bring his A game. A lot of people had a lot of expectations for him when he joined the Pens late in the 1988 season following a three-year stint with the Canadian National Team.

He was really quick with the puck. One time, we had seats behind the glass at a Flames at Sabres game at Marine Midland Arena (now HSBC). For a defenseman of that size, my jaw hit the ground at how well he moved with the puck out of the zone. That combination of size and speed is rare, which is what had to have fascinated teams, earlier in his career. They figured that whatever concentration issues were, that he experienced, these could be addressed by coaching. Interesting that the Chronic Fatigue Syndrom was what prevented him from fulfilling all that promise.

 

[mexicohockey]

I saw ZZ in a couple of games when he played with the Munich Barons of the DEL. He was quite a physical presence on the ice, but often tried to make the big play instead of keeping it simple. His skills at that time did not always match his intentions, so he produced a lot of bad turnovers...