Wayne Simmonds

Wayne Simmonds' seemingly endless energy and his willingness to grind it out along the boards and in front of the opponent's net has helped to make him a fan favorite everywhere he has played. All of the goals he has scored only adds to his popularity. A native of Scarborough, Ontario, where he helped create a summer ball hockey tournament aimed at getting local children interested in the sport, Simmonds was selected by the Kings in the second round (No. 61) of the 2007 NHL Draft. After spending the following season with Sault Ste. Marie in the Ontario Hockey League, Simmonds was one of three rookies to make the Kings for the start of the 2008-09 NHL season. He scored his first NHL goal in his third NHL game, poking a rebound past Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 14, 2008. Simmonds would play two more seasons in Los Angeles, where he displayed a knack for producing while also playing a gritty style of hockey (he had 116 penalty minutes in 2009-10), but on June 23, 2011, he was traded along with Brayden Schenn and a second-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers for Mike Richards and Rob Bordson. Simmonds game took off in Philadelphia, where he scored at least 28 goals in his first three full seasons. In 2015-16, Simmonds scored an NHL career-high 32 goals and tied his career high with 60 points. The following season, he scored 31 goals and played in the 2017 NHL All-Star Game, where he was named MVP after scoring the game-winning goal for the Metropolitan Division. After two more seasons in Philadelphia, Simmonds was traded to the Nashville Predators on Feb. 25, 2019. There, he struggled to get going, getting three points (one goal, two assists) in 17 regular-season games. On July 1, 2019, Simmonds signed a one-year contract with the New Jersey Devils, but after playing in 61 games, he was again traded to the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 24, 2020.