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

[FootKnight]

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!

Carter? Granted, he's not the same as Palffy, but being healthy and in better shape this year he seemed to have a bit of Ziggy with the way he could accelerate down the wing or break through the middle with speed. I kind of found myself wishing he would leave the zone a little earlier at times actually.

 

[ean]

Liked him as a player. Hated him as a person. A real *******.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Carter? Granted, he's not the same as Palffy, but being healthy and in better shape this year he seemed to have a bit of Ziggy with the way he could accelerate down the wing or break through the middle with speed. I kind of found myself wishing he would leave the zone a little earlier at times actually.

Eh, I think they're a different breed. Carter is just a pure sniper. Palffy could pass as well as he could shoot. But I do see some similarities with their game breaking speed and both eventually became really well rounded players and dangerous in PK situations.

Liked him as a player. Hated him as a person. A real *******.

I did hear this about him, as he was rather reluctant (or shy) about doing personal appearances, but it could be a cultural thing.

 

[The Gabe Blade]

Would it be fair to say that the most significant piece of this trade ended up being Bryan Smolinski?

Smoke to Ottawa for Tim Gleason.
Gleason to Carolina for Jack Johnson.
Jack Johnson to CBus for Jeff Carter.

Jeff Carter to The Stanley Cup finals for the win.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Would it be fair to say that the most significant piece of this trade ended up being Bryan Smolinski?

Smoke to Ottawa for Tim Gleason.
Gleason to Carolina for Jack Johnson.
Jack Johnson to CBus for Jeff Carter.

Jeff Carter to The Stanley Cup finals for the win.

On top of that, you could also trace Palffy trade indirectly to the Kings' acquisition of Justin Williams.

Palffy leaving the Kings as a free agent led to the team to sign Pavol Demitra. Lombardi's first major transaction was to move Demitra to Minnesota for the Wild's 1st round pick in 2006 (Trevor Lewis) and Patrick O'Sullivan. The Kings would later trade Patrick O'Sullivan in a three-way trade and land Justin Williams from Carolina.

So the Palffy trade indirectly netted two pivotal pieces on the Kings' roster who had a hand in their Cup victory and their march to the Conference Finals this past season. Very impressive asset management by Dean Lombardi, but it was helped by the moves made by Dave Taylor.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Jeff Carter to The Stanley Cup finals for the win.

With the game mother****ing winnner too!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I guess this one deserves a bump seeing how Ziggy officially retired from hockey yesterday.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Palffy was a stud, could score on some creative shots. Saddest thing about this deal is the Isles let Jokinen go way before his prime.

 

[LAKings88]

I miss Ziggy. A little Pavel Bure in his game.

 

[kingsfan]

Ziggy and Lappy were two of the few bright spots in some darker times for the Kings. Ziggy was easily my favorite King then (not counting when Luc came back). It's such a shame he spent almost his whole career on non-playoff teams and also rans. He'd have been dynamite on a team like the late 90's Red Wings. Instead he's a grossly under recognized talent of his time. I'm really glad we got to have him though. Likely one of my top 5 LA Kings of all-time. Class act, great work ethic, supreme talent but never acted like he was one. I could spend all day on not think of anything negative to say about him.

 

[kingsfan28]

Palffy was a stud, could score on some creative shots. Saddest thing about this deal is the Isles let Jokinen go way before his prime.

No, the saddest part is Gary Bettman stepped in and made the Kings throw in Jokinen to finalize the deal.. I can't think of any trade since then when the commissioner did this.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

No, the saddest part is Gary Bettman stepped in and made the Kings throw in Jokinen to finalize the deal.. I can't think of any trade since then when the commissioner did this.

David Stern with Chris Paul.

 

[Martyros]

David Stern with Chris Paul.

The reason being "this trade would make the Lakers too good". Even though it was a very fair deal with Odom and Gasol getting traded.

 

[johnjm22]

Kings still haven't had a player of Ziggy's offensive flare since.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Kings still haven't had a player of Ziggy's offensive flare since.

It's rather remarkable how Palffy's 1.09 points per game rate ranked him 5th overall all-time in Kings history. Only Gretzky, Dionne, Nicholls and Simmer had a higher PPG rate than Ziggy. And he did that while only playing in four seasons with the Kings.

Kopitar currently ranks 10th overall in Kings history at .91.

 

[johnjm22]

It's rather remarkable how Palffy's 1.09 points per game rate ranked him 5th overall all-time in Kings history. Only Gretzky, Dionne, Nicholls and Simmer had a higher PPG rate than Ziggy. And he did that while only playing in four seasons with the Kings.

Kopitar currently ranks 10th overall in Kings history at .91.

He was also able to put up more than a point per game in the clutch and grab era, with very little help around him.

The 03-04 Kings were terrible. Luc led the team in scoring that year with a whopping 51 points, and yet Ziggy was still able to put up 41 points in 35 games before being injured.

 

[Calirose]

Wow. You guys are older than I thought. Didn't know so many kings fans supported a losing team for so long. I must admit. I started supporting in 2008. I saw a winning team in the making. Kings success confirms my judgment. Palfy was an absolute boss tho. Unreal winger. One of the best.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

He was also able to put up more than a point per game in the clutch and grab era, with very little help around him.

The 03-04 Kings were terrible. Luc led the team in scoring that year with a whopping 51 points, and yet Ziggy was still able to put up 41 points in 35 games before being injured.

I'll see if I can find it, but I do believe that in the "dead puck era" (99-04) there was only 2 players that had a higher ppg than Palffy. He was a legitmate superstar that never really got to shine because of mediocre teams and injuries.

EDIT: 5th in points per game between 1998-99 and 2003-04 (Jagr, Forsberg, Sakic, Bure). Ahead of Naslund, Demitra, Kariya, Lindros, Modano, Sundin, Selanne, Hull, Fedorov, etc, etc.

 

[Butch 19]

No, the saddest part is Gary Bettman stepped in and made the Kings throw in Jokinen to finalize the deal.. I can't think of any trade since then when the commissioner did this.

^^^^ exactly. It still pisses me off that the commissioner stepped in to void a legal trade. Has this happened in other hockey trades? I don't remember any...

Imagine what might have been if Jokinen had (been allowed to!) stayed here.

 

[johnjm22]

Wow. You guys are older than I thought. Didn't know so many kings fans supported a losing team for so long. I must admit. I started supporting in 2008. I saw a winning team in the making. Kings success confirms my judgment. Palfy was an absolute boss tho. Unreal winger. One of the best.

I've been following the Kings religiously since the 93-94 season. That was a great year to be a hockey fan, but a bad year to be Kings fan.

I'll see if I can find it, but I do believe that in the "dead puck era" (99-04) there was only 2 players that had a higher ppg than Palffy. He was a legitmate superstar that never really got to shine because of mediocre teams and injuries.

EDIT: 5th in points per game between 1998-99 and 2003-04 (Jagr, Forsberg, Sakic, Bure). Ahead of Naslund, Demitra, Kariya, Lindros, Modano, Sundin, Selanne, Hull, Fedorov, etc, etc.

Yeah and look at the supporting cast those other players had around them. The LAPD line was only together briefly. Beyond that, Ziggy didn't have a whole lot of help in LA.

 

[Butch 19]

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

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

^^^^ awesome stuff Ron. (SD is painful on the eyes however) Loved the loggins and messina plug.

And when he said "... game at the Forum against Colorado..." I thought "wait a minute, the Avalanche weren't even around yet"... I totally forgot that he was talking about the Colorado Rockies... now they had some cool jerseys.

And doesn't hockey look totally different with white boards and no ads on the ice.

 

[kingsfan]

^^^^ exactly. It still pisses me off that the commissioner stepped in to void a legal trade. Has this happened in other hockey trades? I don't remember any...

Imagine what might have been if Jokinen had (been allowed to!) stayed here.

Didn't Bettman or someone step in on one of the deals Pittsburgh did? Maybe the Kovalev to NYR trade where Pittsburgh got back a pile of crap with the best piece being Rico Fata? I know the league looked into one of those trades (maybe it was the Jagr to Washington deal?)

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Palffy trade.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Palffy trade.

That was the longest ****ing offseason ever.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Didn't Bettman or someone step in on one of the deals Pittsburgh did? Maybe the Kovalev to NYR trade where Pittsburgh got back a pile of crap with the best piece being Rico Fata? I know the league looked into one of those trades (maybe it was the Jagr to Washington deal?)

Reportedly Palffy was originally going to the Rangers for a **** ton of cash and the NHL voided the deal.

Reportedly, the Kings orginal deal with the Islanders had Pavel Rosa going to the Islanders and Bettman made them switch out Pavel for Olli