TOP 100 OILERS: ZDENO CIGER (67)
7 years ago
Zdeno Ciger is one of those players who always left me wanting more. In his case because I thought we were just starting to see the best of Ciger when he opted to call an end to his time with the awful Edmonton Oiler teams of the early 1990s and go home to Slovakia.
Having endured parts of four utterly forgettable seasons in Edmonton, 1992-93 to 1995-96, with an Oiler team that missed the playoffs every year he was here, Ciger was coming off the most productive campaign of his NHL career when he decided to go home rather than toil in a half-empty building for a team that was truly atrocious in the have-not days.
Zdeno Ciger
Left Wing — shoots L
Born Oct 19 1969 — Martin, Slovakia
Height 6.01 — Weight 190 [185 cm/86 kg]
Drafted by New Jersey Devils
Round 3 #54 overall 1988 NHL Entry Draft
BY THE NUMBERS
Season | Tm | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | S% | ATOI |
1990-91 | 45 | 8 | 17 | 25 | 3 | 8 | 9.8 | ||
1991-92 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 11 | -2 | 10 | 18.2 | ||
1992-93 | TOT | 64 | 13 | 23 | 36 | -13 | 8 | 12.3 | |
1992-93 | 27 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -8 | 2 | 10.3 | ||
1992-93 | 37 | 9 | 15 | 24 | -5 | 6 | 13.4 | ||
1993-94 | 84 | 22 | 35 | 57 | -11 | 8 | 13.9 | ||
1994-95 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 0 | 20.0 | ||
1995-96 | 78 | 31 | 39 | 70 | -15 | 41 | 16.8 | ||
2001-02 | TOT | 56 | 12 | 13 | 25 | -15 | 26 | 13.0 | 15:17 |
2001-02 | 29 | 6 | 7 | 13 | -3 | 16 | 12.5 | 14:30 | |
2001-02 | 27 | 6 | 6 | 12 | -12 | 10 | 13.6 | 16:08 | |
4 yrs | EDM | 204 | 64 | 91 | 155 | -32 | 55 | 15.3 | |
3 yrs | NJD | 92 | 18 | 30 | 48 | -7 | 20 | 11.7 | |
1 yr | NYR | 29 | 6 | 7 | 13 | -3 | 16 | 12.5 | 14:30 |
1 yr | TBL | 27 | 6 | 6 | 12 | -12 | 10 | 13.6 | 16:08 |
Career | 352 | 94 | 134 | 228 | -54 | 101 | 14.1 | 15:17 |
NOTABLE
Obtained during the 1992-93 season from the New Jersey Devils with Kevin Todd for Bernie Nicholls, Ciger finished second to Doug Weight in team scoring with 31-39-70 in 78 games in 1995-96 – that on a team that won just 30 games and finished with 68 points under coach Ron Low.
In the only two full seasons he played with the Oilers, Ciger, originally drafted 54th overall by the Devils in 1988, scored 22-35-57 (1993-94) and had the 70-point season. Ciger didn’t always bring it – nobody does – but he had a knack for finding open ice and gifted mitts when he managed to find that ice and somebody actually got him the puck at the same time.
Ciger had a career 14.1 shooting percentage in the NHL. That includes a 15.3 percentage in the 204 games he played with the Oilers. If nothing else, Ciger knew how to finish on a slate of teams that didn’t have nearly enough of that on a roster picked clean by the cost-cutting measures owner Peter Pocklington saddled his hockey ops people with.
THE STORY
The Oilers were coming off the worst four seasons in franchise history when Ciger decided he’d be better off and happier playing a shorter season for HC Slovan Harvard Bratislava in Slovakia than hanging around. Ciger was just 26 years old when he made the call.
While it’s impossible to know whether Ciger would have matched or bettered that 70-point season had he stuck around another few seasons, he was just entering his prime years. The season after he left, the Oilers began a string of five straight seasons back in the playoffs, a stretch that began with a first-round upset of the Dallas Stars.
While Ciger would eventually return to the NHL in 2001-02 when he signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers, his best years came in Edmonton without a whole lot around him to work with. A bright light in some dark times was the gifted Slovakian winger.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
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