- May 1, 2011
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Never a fan of him but always hated Bernie Nicholls more. Overrated POS.
He was alright for us, never was bothered too much by him. But most other fans weren't probably as bothered by Steve Thomas as I was, so I could see where you are coming from.
The trade for him wasn't bad. We got rid of Zdeno Ciger for him, who wasn't all that great and left the league like 2 years later. And Kevin Todd, who looked promising at the time but never lived up to that huge rookie season he had.
The most I remember about Zdeno Ciger was his hat trick against us. It was when he returned to the league after playing overseas for 5 or 6 years.
His hat trick against us was like that decade's version of the Eric Boulton hat trick. Since we made the playoffs that season unlike the 10-11 season, it didn't turn out to be as devastating of a memory. Zdeno Ciger scored a hat trick (on an overtime winner I think) against us at home in 2001-2002 when he played for the Lightning.
I'm pretty sure that Larry Robinson was fired not too long after that game. As a matter of fact, I thought back to that game after the Boulton hat trick against us. I recalled how Larry was fired not too long after that, so maybe that game meant MacLean was being ousted finally. It happened after one more game following that one.
Zdeno Ciger did have a 31 goal season with Edmonton in 95-96. That was a lot for a defenseman. He wound up having 12 goals in his only season back in the NHL in 01-02 in 56 games between the Rangers and Lightning. 3 of them were in one night against us. That was the low point of the 01-02 season and may have caused Larry's demise during that first stint. Or at least it didn't help.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/200201150NJD.html
Jesus what a gong show. 3 goals on 4 shots for Zdeno Ciger that night. Only 15:35 of ice time that night to boot. 3 goals and 1 assist, 4 point night for Zdeno Ciger.
In my best Doc Emrick impersonation MY GOODNESS!
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