Zigmund Palffy
© AFP/File Jakub SukupPITTSBURGH, United States (AFP) - The 33-year-old Slovakian right wing has 42 points in 42 games for the Penguins and his absence will be another blow to a team that has lost seven games in a row and ranks second-worst in the NHL with only 11 wins in 46 games.
Palffy signed a three-year deal worth 13.5 million dollars before the season began as the Penguins added talent around Canadian rookie prodigy Sidney Crosby in hopes of snapping a streak of three seasons without making the playoffs.
With 11 goals and 31 assists, Palffy trailed only Crosby's 51 points among Penguins players this season. He had a 3.5 million-dollar salary this season and was to be paid 5.5 million dollars next season and 4.5 million in the next.
Palffy has been nagged by a lingering shoulder injury he suffered in January of 2004 while with the Los Angeles Kings. He has undergone two shoulder operations in the past two years.
Three-time All-Star Palffy scored 329 goals and added 384 assists in 684 career games over 12 seasons with the New York Islanders, Kings and Penguins as well as playing for his homeland at the 1994 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
Palffy was drafted in 1991 byt the Islanders as the 26th selection overall. He spent six seasons with New York and scored 168 goals with 163 assists, including 40 goals in three consecutive seasons from 1995 through 1998.
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