Wayne Simmonds contributed significantly to the legacy of black hockey players, and for a while, he was one of the top scoring threats for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Simmonds started his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings after being drafted in the Second Round in 2007. Only a year later, he managed to make it to the main roster. Despite showing promise, the Kings considered him expendable and traded him to the Flyers for veteran Mike Richards as part of their push for the Stanley Cup.
Simmonds received more ice time in Philadelphia, where he was adored for his scoring, hitting, and fighting abilities. Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, he had a four-year run where he scored at least 50 points (he had 60 in two of those years) and racked up over 100 penalty minutes four times. Simmonds also emerged as a locker room leader with the Flyers, and he was finally selected to the All-Star Game in 2017, where he represented Philadelphia well and was named the game’s MVP.
With Philadelphia on the decline, Nashville traded for the winger (who was in his contract year) in 2019, hoping to add his grit and veteran presence. Simmonds became the first player to win the Mark Messier Leadership Award while playing for two different teams. After that, he signed with New Jersey and concluded his career with brief stops in Buffalo and three years in Toronto.
He scored 526 goals in 1,037 games over his career.