Midseason Review - Zigmund Palffy

Zigmund Palffy - 42 Games - 11 G, 31 A, +5, 12 PIM

Grade: B+

Okay - I wrote this before he retired. That doesn't change my assessment (though some of the comments are somewhat ironic), so here it is.

For a player on this team to be in the plus column in plus / minus rating is incredible. There are currently three of them, and the other two (Pirjeta and Christensen) aren't with the club right now. Palffy has produced while keeping up the defensive duties quite well. Before he arrived this year, I thought he had the reputation of being someone who would float out near the red line, waiting for one of his guys to get the puck out of his end. I may be mistaken, but either way, he's been a pleasent surprise in this regard.

Offensively, he's been weak in the goal scoring area, but I'd still say he's a good bet for 30 goals. He also hasn't been able to flourish on the power play like he should, with just 2 G, 9 A on the power play. I think once he hits a groove, he'll be hard to stop.

This is one guy with a bigger contract that the team should not even consider dealing. There will certainly be teams that would take him, but the Pens should make him a fixture here for years to come.