Toggle sidebar

Player Discussion: Wayne Simmonds

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Leafblooded said:
Terrifying truly
It still happens in some rough and badly educated places in Canada today .. although nowhere near like it used to be .. you have to understand most every coach would tap you on back or shoulder and let you know now was time to go out and hurt someone bad .. and it is part of fabric of hockey for many many decades in Canada
Click to expand...
 
Sure it would be nice if his finishing was better, but i tip my hat to Wayne Simmonds this season. He's doing everything he's being asked to: makes great runs and generates dangerous scoring chances, battling hard in the boards and more often than not coming out with the puck on his stick, and above all else, the most physical player on this team. He's an ideal 4th liner and should have his spot (along with Spezza) cemented on the roster.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NinjaKick, vpasla1, blueberrie and 4 others
Guys like Wayner, Ritchie and Muzzy are backbone of this team .. other teams are intimidated by them as we saw last night .. both Wayner and Ritchie score in bunches and their goals will come .. if anything we need Cliffy to come up and help us out in playoffs too when it gets even tougher
Bunting 1 line
Ritchie 1 line
Wayner 1 line
Cliffy 1 line
 
  • Like
Reactions: SHANNYPLAN, Stigma, Duffman955 and 1 other person
Why Maple Leafs' Wayne Simmonds doesn’t have time to mess around - Sportsnet.ca

It’s one thing for a banged-up, scar-faced, tooth-deprived winger to slide from 30-goal scorer to fourth-line checker. That happens.

It’s quite another for a proud guy to not only accept but take ownership of a condensed role.

For the first time in his 14-year career, Simmonds has (a) been healthy scratched, (b) seen his average ice time fall under the 10-minute mark (9:34), and (c) been completely stripped of power-play opportunities.

These are elephant pills to swallow, but the son of Scarborough has chewed them up and spit back venom.

"The game's changing,” Simmonds says. “And the way that these guys play now, it's extremely fast, and you don't have that much time. So, you gotta figure out a way to buy yourself an extra second. Through working with our development team, I've figured that out."

Adapt or fade.

After having his 2020-21 campaign derailed by a fluke broken wrist, Simmonds re-upped in Toronto and set about the hard work of remodelling his game to fit his hometown’s needs.

With his rehab completed, a slowing Simmonds zeroed in on his stride and his puck protection over the summer, upping his skating sessions to twice or thrice weekly under the tutelage of since-departed skating coach Barb Underhill. He tapped development consultants Denver Manderson and Nik Antropov to help his strong, wiry frame retrieve pucks quicker and hang on to them longer.

"A lot of that stuff is new to him, and it took him a while to get comfortable with it," says coach Sheldon Keefe. "While his role is reduced, we've added more reps to practices, before and after for him, and I've seen a lot of transfer for him. It's nice to see that: his role has reduced, but his chance generation has increased greatly."

Forming a fixed fourth-line duo alongside Jason Spezza — the posterboy for offensive studs finding alternate routes to relevancy – Simmonds finds himself on the plus side of the ledger (+1) for the first time in five years.

And although he has been limited to just one goal and six points, the Wayne Train forecheck is being clipped by a coaching staff and used to show a developing checker like Pierre Engvall how to use his body in one-on-one battles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NinjaKick, fancy lad, The Iceman and 1 other person
hockeywiz542 said:
Why Maple Leafs' Wayne Simmonds doesn’t have time to mess around - Sportsnet.ca

It’s one thing for a banged-up, scar-faced, tooth-deprived winger to slide from 30-goal scorer to fourth-line checker. That happens.

It’s quite another for a proud guy to not only accept but take ownership of a condensed role.

For the first time in his 14-year career, Simmonds has (a) been healthy scratched, (b) seen his average ice time fall under the 10-minute mark (9:34), and (c) been completely stripped of power-play opportunities.

These are elephant pills to swallow, but the son of Scarborough has chewed them up and spit back venom.

"The game's changing,” Simmonds says. “And the way that these guys play now, it's extremely fast, and you don't have that much time. So, you gotta figure out a way to buy yourself an extra second. Through working with our development team, I've figured that out."

Adapt or fade.

After having his 2020-21 campaign derailed by a fluke broken wrist, Simmonds re-upped in Toronto and set about the hard work of remodelling his game to fit his hometown’s needs.

With his rehab completed, a slowing Simmonds zeroed in on his stride and his puck protection over the summer, upping his skating sessions to twice or thrice weekly under the tutelage of since-departed skating coach Barb Underhill. He tapped development consultants Denver Manderson and Nik Antropov to help his strong, wiry frame retrieve pucks quicker and hang on to them longer.

"A lot of that stuff is new to him, and it took him a while to get comfortable with it," says coach Sheldon Keefe. "While his role is reduced, we've added more reps to practices, before and after for him, and I've seen a lot of transfer for him. It's nice to see that: his role has reduced, but his chance generation has increased greatly."

Forming a fixed fourth-line duo alongside Jason Spezza — the posterboy for offensive studs finding alternate routes to relevancy – Simmonds finds himself on the plus side of the ledger (+1) for the first time in five years.

And although he has been limited to just one goal and six points, the Wayne Train forecheck is being clipped by a coaching staff and used to show a developing checker like Pierre Engvall how to use his body in one-on-one battles.
Click to expand...

I didn't have Wayne in any of my starting lineups pre-season. I honestly thought he didn't look great in Pre-season and just thought we had a bit of a paper weight on the 4th line.

He's absolutely made me look like a fool. He looks outstanding TBH. He's making plays with the puck on his tape that he never made last year. He should easily be a 0.5pt/game player this year with how he's played. He generates a quality scoring chance a game it seems. I really hope the puck starts going in for him and Big Ritch. They both deserve it IMO.

But ya, I donno what else to say about Wayner. He gives it 100% every night, and his hands these days are soft as baby shit. That Engvall goal on Wednesday was a high end level play, and he's made that play more than once before this year. Mo's goal against NYR the other week he was F1 on the forecheck, recovered the puck, protected the puck from behind the goal line all the way to the dot and made a slick deceptive inside 2 outside play right before he put that puck on a tee for Mo who buried.

His skating has vastly improved from a year ago IMO. His stride is far less choppy.

Overall he's been exactly what we need down the lineup. Great for the bench/room and loves representing his hometown team. Not much to dislike if you ask me
 
  • Like
Reactions: vpasla1, fancy lad, Teeder Keon and 2 others
People who complain about Simmonds are just trying to find something to complain about. For someone who plays 10 minutes a game, plays physical, willing to drop the gloves and is great in the locker room all while costing under a million and being a Toronto native… There really is not much to complain about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Iceman, Stigma, Nikkoshine and 10 others
TMLAM34 said:
People who complain about Simmonds are just trying to find something to complain about. For someone who plays 10 minutes a game, plays physical, willing to drop the gloves and is great in the locker room all while costing under a million and being a Toronto native… There really is not much to complain about.
Click to expand...
Who's complaining about him?
 
  • Like
Reactions: fancy lad and Teeder Keon
Bumping this to say I find it funny I didn’t think he had that strong of a game yesterday (couple bad turnovers etc), but ended up with a goal. Meanwhile he’s got about 20 games of excellent snakebitten hockey that he’s only just now getting rewarded for. Good for Simmonds, he’s done absolutely everything that’s been asked of him. People seem to forget that he was good in the playoffs too taking runs at the Habs d and being miserable to play against. It’s been a long time since the leafs have iced 3 separate guys who can take care of business in Simmonds, Ritchie and Clifford, as well as having top end talent and depth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jimmy Firecracker, MattySnipes, zeke and 1 other person
That injury last year completely crushed his season. He wasn’t the same player

let’s hope things are different this season

I can’t see the leafs losing with Tavares, Simmons (pre injury) and Hyman all healthy
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jimmy Firecracker
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom