Zdeno CÃger
Zdeno Cíger (born 19 October 1969 in Martin, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Slovak ice hockey player and current coach who has completed 352 NHL games for the New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning in his career. From 2006 to October 2008 he worked as head coach of HC Slovan Bratislava. He is co- manager of the Slovak national team.
- 2.1 International
- 3.1 Czechoslovakia and Slovakia
- 3.2 National Hockey League
- 3.3 International
Career
Zdeno Cíger began his career in the youth teams of the MHC Martin, before he moved to the juniors from Dukla Trenčín 1986. In the season 1987/88 he gave for Dukla his debut in the top division of the Czechoslovak Federation and established itself within the next two years within the team. NHL Entry Draft 1988, he was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the third round to 54th place. The following season, 1988/89, he scored 18 goals and had 30 assists and has been recognized for this achievement as a rookie of the year. A year later, he decided a change to North America and played for the Utica Devils. After only eight games Cíger was appointed Devils in the NHL squad of New Jersey and graduated from the rest of the season 1990/91 in New Jersey. By the middle of the 1992/93 season he stayed with the Devils before he was released in January 1993 along with Kevin Todd on the Edmonton Oilers, who sent in return Bernie Nicholls to New Jersey.
The Oilers Zdeno Cíger increased his points total from year to year and reached in the 1995/96 season a total of 70 points scorer. After this success, he returned to Slovakia and played from that date for the HC Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak Extraliga. He won a total of four players Slovakian champions title with Slovan and was five times elected to the All- Star team the Extraliga. He also took part with Slovan Bratislava for several years at the European Hockey League where Cíger always one of the strongest offensive games.
In October 1998, the newly established Nashville Predators acquired the rights to Cíger during the NHL Waiver Draft. Two years later these rights were awarded to the expansion team Minnesota Wild. Zdeno Cíger but remained in both cases in Slovakia, since he was not under contract. Only in 2001 he signed a NHL contract again, this time with the New York Rangers. In December 2001, the Rangers but transferred him to Tampa Bay, the charges for Matthew Barnaby to the Rangers. According to the 2001 /02 season Cíger returned to Slovan. Cíger completed a total of 352 NHL games in which he scored 94 goals and gave 134 templates.
After his return from North America, he won with Slovan in 2003 the league championship and finished his career in 2004 officially. Before the playoffs the following season, he was persuaded to venture a comeback and excelled with 21 points in 19 playoff scorers games. This commitment earned him another Slovakian league title, but he stepped back again from competitive sports. Before the playoffs of the 2005 /06 repeated this process: In another 15 season or playoff games, he scored 13 points, but decided then to the final farewell from active competitive sports to work as an assistant coach of the Slovak national team.
As a coach
In August 2006 Cíger assistant coach as Julius Šupler, the former head coach of the Slovak national team. A year later, he finished the work in the national team in order to concentrate on his club work, and was replaced by Peter Oremus. In the summer of 2006 Cíger also took over the post of head coach at Slovan Bratislava and was in the following two seasons, two Slovakian league title win with the club.
In October 2008 he joined because of lack of success back as head coach at Slovan. During the 2010/11 season he again took over as coach at Slovan after Pavel Hynek had been dismissed.
Internationally
Zdeno Cíger participated in addition to his success at club level with many international championships: For the selection of teams of Czechoslovakia, he played the U18 European Championship in 1987, the U20 World Cup in 1988 and the Men's World Championship in 1989 and 1990, where he won two bronze medals and a silver medal. With the National Team Slovakia in 1995, he managed to move up to the A- group of the World Cup and took over again until 2003 in part to the World Cup. He also was a member of the Slovak squad at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
The jersey of the Slovak national team, he played a total of 106 games in which he scored 34 goals. For the national team of Czechoslovakia he reached 13 goals in 43 internationals.
Awards and achievements
Internationally
Career Stats
Czechoslovakia and Slovakia
National Hockey League
Internationally
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )