Zigmund Pálffy for the HHOF?

Nick Hansen

Registered User
Sep 28, 2017
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684 games and 713 points, including four top ten finishes in points (also top five in goals in two out of those four years). Good numbers with the national team including a WHC gold. Amassed his points right through the dead puck era - imagine how he would have looked like after the lockout?
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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I'm a big fan of Ziggy, but I think his career was too short and too impacted for him to be a Hall of Famer. It's a shame. He had the talent. He didn't get a chance to do too much in the playoffs. Almost always played for meh or poor teams.
 

Nick Hansen

Registered User
Sep 28, 2017
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I'm a big fan of Ziggy, but I think his career was too short and too impacted for him to be a Hall of Famer. It's a shame. He had the talent. He didn't get a chance to do too much in the playoffs. Almost always played for meh or poor teams.

I'd be interested in seeing how his PPG stacks up against his peers during his NHL career. I am guessing top ten atleast.
 

Habsfan18

The Hockey Library
May 13, 2003
30,614
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Ontario
If I were picking solely on skill level, he’d be in. But I don’t think he gets the call. I know this is said a lot..but Hall of Very Good. I just don’t feel like it’s a Hall Of Fame career. Maybe if he played for longer and had a few more really strong seasons.

But who knows, I could be wrong.
 

Nick Hansen

Registered User
Sep 28, 2017
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If I were picking solely on skill level, he’d be in. But I don’t think he gets the call. I know this is said a lot..but Hall of Very Good. I just don’t feel like it’s a Hall Of Fame career. Maybe if he played for longer and had a few more really strong seasons.

But who knows, I could be wrong.

What hurts him a little bit is that he doesn't have much of a playoff resume. A mere 25 games, although he did record 19 pts while there. His regular season numbers are better than Neely but he had an awesome record in the playoffs, legendary scorer.
 

Passchendaele

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Dec 11, 2006
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I recall being weirded out by his sudden retirement at age 33, half-season, in 2006..

He was one of the reasons to be excited for the upcoming season if you were a Pens fan.. along with Crosby, Gonchar, Recchi & Co.
 

Hobnobs

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Nov 29, 2011
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Talented, memorable and contributed greatly to some mediocre to terrible teams. Hes in imo.
 

Neutrinos

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Sep 23, 2016
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Did Palffy have a better career than wingers like Propp, Kerr, and Larmer?
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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My memory of him was that he was really good, but didn't play long enough. But then, looking back at his stats, you see he did play 10-and-half seasons, and was really good in about 9 of those.

Those back-to-back 48 and 45-goal seasons in 1997 and 1998 are really impressive -- fifth-best in the NHL each time, and especially impressive in that he was kind of alone on the Islanders, who were 16th in offense in 1998.

He's got a stronger case than Andreychuk; let's put it that way. But I doubt he has enough cronies to get him in.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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If Palffy does get in, then what about Markus Naslund?
I like Markus Naslund in that he was the top guy on his team, carrying the load. That places him way above Andreychuk, for example.

I don't like Markus Naslund in that he had only three elite seasons (in a row). Then, he had another two or three really good seasons, if not quite elite. Playoff/international resume is so-so.

Could go either way. My own preference is stricter standards, so out.
 

Neutrinos

Registered User
Sep 23, 2016
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I think you can make a case that he did have a better career than these guys, because he was the top-dog on his team, and none of these guys ever really were (Propp was closest).

By that logic, Shane Doan had a better career than half the guys in the Hall of Fame

And FWIW, Kerr lead the Flyers in scoring 4 times. Propp did it just once
 
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Terry Yake

Registered User
Aug 5, 2013
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really liked palffy during his career but nothing really stands out on his resume enough to put him in the HOF

hall of very good? absolutely
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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Brampton, ON
I will say this: It's very impressive he has four finishes in the top ten for points considering how lackluster many of the teams he played for were and the amount of talent in the League during his prime years.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
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He was a HHOF talent who put up HHOF level individual results in a good number of years, but did not have a HHOF career. Chose to leave the NHL at just 33 and had very little team/playoff success, even if that wasn't really his fault.

Oh man, the post-expansion HHOF wingers Palffy was far and away better than, though....
 
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The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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By that logic, Shane Doan had a better career than half the guys in the Hall of Fame

And FWIW, Kerr lead the Flyers in scoring 4 times. Propp did it just once
I thought it was obvious that I meant "all other things being somewhat comparable".

I'm not arguing that every guy who's the best on his team gets in the Hall of Fame... lol...

Kerr may have led the Flyers in scoring more times than Propp, but would you say he was more important to that team? I wouldn't. Also:

1984
93 - Kerr
92 - Propp
1985
98 - Kerr
97 - Propp
1986
Clear win by Propp
1987
Kerr's PPG = 1.27
Propp's PPG = 1.26
(Propp played 53 games)

We'll give Kerr a clear "win" in 1989, though! But in the other three years that Kerr led the team in scoring, he won the team scoring by 1 measly point or (in 1987) he played more games.

Nevertheless, it is good to be reminded that Kerr was not an entirely one-dimensional scorer, so thanks for that.
 

Thenameless

Registered User
Apr 29, 2014
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My memory of him was that he was really good, but didn't play long enough. But then, looking back at his stats, you see he did play 10-and-half seasons, and was really good in about 9 of those.

Those back-to-back 48 and 45-goal seasons in 1997 and 1998 are really impressive -- fifth-best in the NHL each time, and especially impressive in that he was kind of alone on the Islanders, who were 16th in offense in 1998.

He's got a stronger case than Andreychuk; let's put it that way. But I doubt he has enough cronies to get him in.

I agree with this assessment. Palffy was better than Andreychuk, but I wouldn't vote either of them into the Hall of Fame.
 

Ivo

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Dec 29, 2008
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Rotterdam, NL
He was talented enough to have a HoF career, if things went differently for him. What hurts him is that he played on really bad teams most of his career, the Islanders were really bad and in LA he was also mostly left to do it all by himself (had a brief time with Allison and Deadmarsh, but all three were very injury prone). In 02/03 Palffy scored 85 points, while the next best forward on his team had 38. That's mind-boggling. Then he left the Penguins before they would become contenders not long after. Could've had a cup or two and at least a couple more high-scoring seasons had he stayed and played with Crosby/Malkin.

The other thing that hurt him were constant injuries, which made him miss significant time in his prime and probably caused his early NHL retirement too. Some injuries really hurt his career, for example the way he was playing in 03/04 he would've been one of the contenders for the Art Ross (in a low scoring year). In 00/01, he was on pace for 3rd in scoring, had he not missed 9 games. He was also on pace for another top-10 finish in 99/00, but missed 18 games. In the 9 seasons that I consider his prime, he missed 134 games and (based on pace during each season) roughly 145 points.

However, his career was too short and too unaccomplished (although that was not his fault really) to make the HoF.
 
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Peter Tosh

Registered User
Dec 19, 2007
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All these "X to the HHOF" threads makes me wonder if I'm getting old. People around here seems to be too young to remeber the 90's. Palffy was, like Pierre Turgeon and others, a good forward who scored a lot and had some nice seasons, stat wise. Was he ever considered top ten in the league? No. Top twenty? No.

Miroslav Satan, Slava Kozlov, Pavol Demitra or Ziggy Palffy will never see HHOF.
 

MisterNoItAll

Registered User
Oct 21, 2017
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It's not about stats. It's about being a top player in the league. Palffy was never considered more than a good scorer.

You’re wrong. He was a top player. He just played on some of the weakest teams, that’s why he went unnoticed. Skill wise and stats wise, he was the same as Bure.
 

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