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Chris Farley and John Candy Quotes: Pundits, fans recall Ziggy Palffy

Ziggy Palffy was a favorite of fans and media alike.

Zigmund Palffy was a character (and probably still is. He's alive and well, but retired, finally.). He arrived on these shores knowing barely any English. He had a mullet and a lethal shot and mesmerizing hands. He made longtime New York hockey scribe Stan Fischler do silly things:

Ziggystan_medium

His quote about how he reached the decision to retire at age 41, even after leading the Slovak league in points last season yet again, seems a fitting reflection of the personality fans and media saw:

"One morning is more beautiful than the previous one, and you have other opinions. At this point, I believe that I quit. Definitive. Already I do not want to travel anywhere. Did it enough."

That is the "I have a fulfilling life" version of dropping the mic.

Instant Reactions

Here is how a former teammate, a couple of NHL beatwriters, the former Isles PR lead, and some fans from his other NHL team reacted upon hearing of his retirement from hockey:

Told you the dude was loved.

"You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years."

So he liked heavy comedians, is what we're getting at here.

(Yes, it's true. Palffy hailed from a time before there was an Avalanche. And the Isles' minor league affiliate was in Denver. In a league called the IHL. Which was a good league. Butch Goring was the champion coach.)

I see Palffy as an Islander who was ripped from us in a symbol of everything wrong with the franchise's '90s ownership turmoil. But we must acknowledge that he didn't stop wowing fans even after he left the Island:

Palffy's NHL career was bookended almost entirely by the first two lockouts, when he was a household name:

Yes, we're kind of beating our regular readers over the head with Palffy retirement coverage today, but with good reason: The man was an amazing hockey player and a true Islanders star. We can't let that be forgotten just because his Isles tenure ended too soon, his NHL exposure ended after Lockout II, and his exploits occurred mostly before the Internet's viral video age.