Chris Simon

This article is about the Canadian hockey player. For the American biologist, see Chris Simon (biologist).

Chris Simon
Simon with the Calgary Flames in 2005
Born	(1972-01-30)January 30, 1972 Wawa, Ontario, Canada
Died	Wawa, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight	232 lb (105 kg; 16 st 8 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Quebec Nordiques Colorado Avalanche Washington Capitals Chicago Blackhawks New York Rangers Calgary Flames New York Islanders Minnesota Wild Vityaz Chekhov UHC Dynamo Metallurg Novokuznetsk
NHL Draft	25th overall, 1990 Philadelphia Flyers
Playing career	1992–2013

Christopher J. Simon (January 30, 1972 – March 18, 2024) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Known as an aggressive player, he was suspended eight times for a combined total of 65 games during his NHL career.

Playing career

Simon grew up in Wawa, Ontario, playing his minor hockey for the Wawa Flyers of the NOHA. As a Bantam, he played Jr.B. hockey for the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds of the NOJHL in 1987–88. He was selected in the 3rd round (42nd overall) of the 1988 OHL Priority Selection by the Ottawa 67's. As a teen, he fought addictions and served an eight-game suspension for a stick-swinging incident while on the 67's. Simon subsequently became sober and counselled indigenous youth on the dangers of alcohol. During the 1990-91 OHL season, Simon served a 12-game suspension for slashing David Babcock in the face, breaking seven teeth and opening a gash that required 21 stitches. The following season, Simon was suspended eight times for a total of 34 games, two of those by his own team.

Simon was drafted in the 2nd round (25th overall) of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, but was traded as part of the Eric Lindros trade to the Quebec Nordiques before playing any games for the Flyers. He also played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers (where he split the season as a left wing and right wing), New York Islanders, and Minnesota Wild.

In 1996, he won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche. Each player on the winning team is given 24 hours alone with the Cup. Simon took it to his hometown of Wawa, Ontario. After showing it to the townspeople he and his maternal grandfather took the Cup on a fishing trip.

Simon was a member of the Washington Capitals when they went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1998. He had been enjoying great offensive success that season until a shoulder injury knocked him out for much of the playoff run. He underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in December 1998. He was the team's leading goal scorer in the 1999–2000 season with 29 goals in 75 games. He also made it to the Stanley Cup finals with the Calgary Flames in 2004, and played for the Flames for two seasons before being signed as a free agent in 2006 by the New York Islanders. He was then traded to the Minnesota Wild for a 6th round draft pick.

Simon was of Ojibwa descent, and was born in Wawa, Ontario. Simon was seen as a role model to Native Canadians for his accomplishments in the NHL.

Suspensions

Simon was involved in numerous on-ice incidents and was suspended eight times by the NHL for his conduct, for a grand total of 65 games.

Mike Grier incident

On November 8, 1997, during a game against the Edmonton Oilers, Simon was suspended three games for using his stick to hit Edmonton's Mike Grier. Grier allegedly made derogatory comments about Simon's Ojibwa heritage, and Simon allegedly responded with a racial slur (supposedly calling Grier, who is black, a "nigger") before hitting Grier, although the words spoken between the two players were never confirmed. Simon flew to Toronto to apologize to Grier, who accepted. Grier and Simon were later teammates for a brief time in 2002 with the Washington Capitals.

File:Chris Simon 2013-01-05.JPG

Simon during his final season with Metallurg Novokuznetsk in 2013

Ryan Hollweg incident

On March 8, 2007, the Islanders faced their rival, the New York Rangers, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. At 13:25 of the third period, Rangers forward Ryan Hollweg checked Simon from (what Simon felt was) behind, knocking him face first into the boards, and giving Simon a concussion. No penalty was assessed, and play continued. Simon then took a two-handed baseball swing in the face of Ryan Hollweg with his hockey stick as he skated by. Simon received a match penalty for attempt to injure, resulting in his ejection from the game. Hollweg suffered a cut to the chin that required two stitches. According to ESPN's Barry Melrose, Hollweg escaped serious injury because Simon's blow caught his shoulder pads before hitting his face.

Simon was automatically suspended indefinitely by the NHL due to his match penalty pending ruling by the league commissioner Gary Bettman and disciplinarian Colin Campbell. On March 11, he was suspended for the rest of the season, including playoffs, with a minimum of 25 games, and since the Islanders only played five playoff games, it continued into the first five games of the 2007–08 season. The Nassau County district attorney considered filing criminal charges against Simon, but declined. Hollweg later told Newsday that he was not interested in pressing charges.

On March 10, Simon issued a statement in which he apologized to Hollweg, and the league and said that there is "absolutely no place in hockey" for what he did. He asserted that he did not remember much about the incident because he was "completely out of it" as a result of the concussion.

Jarkko Ruutu incident

On December 15, 2007, at 14:06 of the third period of a home game against Pittsburgh, Tim Jackman and Jarkko Ruutu exchanged words between the teams' benches during a stoppage of play. Simon skated in behind Ruutu and pulled Ruutu's leg back with his own. When Ruutu fell to his knees, Simon stomped on the back of Ruutu's right leg with his skate and then stepped into the bench area. The incident was witnessed by referee Justin St. Pierre, who assessed Simon a match penalty for attempt to injure and ejected him from the game.

The following Monday, Simon agreed to go on indefinite paid leave from the team, saying there was "no excuse" for his actions and that he needed some time away from hockey. However, the next day, Simon was suspended without pay for 30 games, the third-longest suspension for an on-ice incident in modern NHL history behind a 41-game suspension to Raffi Torres in 2015 and a one-year suspension handed down to Marty McSorley in 2000 (though McSorley only sat out 23 games before his contract expired and he left the NHL). League disciplinarian Colin Campbell said that in his opinion, Simon had "repeatedly evidence(d) the lack of ability to control his actions," and also stressed that this was his eighth disciplinary hearing. Following the suspension, Simon returned to play one more game with the New York Islanders before being traded to the Minnesota Wild.

After Chris Pronger was not initially disciplined by the NHL when he stomped on Ryan Kesler's leg on March 12, 2008, Simon decried what he saw as unfair and unequal treatment. On March 15, 2008, after a second review, the NHL suspended Pronger for 8 games.

Minor incidents

Simon was suspended for one game in a 2000 playoff series against Pittsburgh for cross checking Peter Popovic across the throat on April 13, 2000. He was given two-game suspensions, first on April 5, 2001, for elbowing Anders Eriksson, and twice more in 2004 for cross checking Tampa Bay's Ruslan Fedotenko and then jumping on and punching him, and for kneeing Dallas's Sergei Zubov.

Personal life and death

His father, John, is of Ojibwe descent from the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island. As a teenager, he struggled with an addiction to alcohol but was helped to sobriety by future Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan in 1992.

Simon's first wife was Lauri Smith and they later divorced. He and his second wife Valerie had four children and they divorced in 2017.

In 2017, Simon filed for bankruptcy and claimed he was unable to work due to his hockey injuries. In the filing, a doctor testified that Simon had symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy which were believed to be attributed to significant brain trauma during his hockey career. The doctor further claimed that Simon suffered from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and arthritis.

Simon died on March 18, 2024, at the age of 52, in Wawa, Ontario.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1988–89	Ottawa 67's	OHL		36	4	2	6	31		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Ottawa 67's	OHL		57	36	38	74	146		3	2	1	3	4
1990–91	Ottawa 67's	OHL		20	16	6	22	69		17	5	9	14	59
1991–92	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OHL		31	19	25	44	143		11	5	8	13	49
1992–93	Halifax Citadels	AHL		36	12	6	18	131		—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	Quebec Nordiques	NHL		16	1	1	2	67		5	0	0	0	26
1993–94	Quebec Nordiques	NHL		37	4	4	8	132		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Quebec Nordiques	NHL		29	3	9	12	106		6	1	1	2	19
1995–96	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		64	16	18	34	250		12	1	2	3	11
1996–97	Washington Capitals	NHL		42	9	13	22	165		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	Washington Capitals	NHL		28	7	10	17	38		18	1	0	1	26
1998–99	Washington Capitals	NHL		23	3	7	10	48		—	—	—	—	—
1999–2000	Washington Capitals	NHL		75	29	20	49	146		4	2	0	2	24
2000–01	Washington Capitals	NHL		60	10	10	20	109		6	1	0	1	4
2001–02	Washington Capitals	NHL		82	14	17	31	137		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Washington Capitals	NHL		10	0	2	2	23		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		61	12	6	18	125		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	New York Rangers	NHL		65	14	9	23	225		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Calgary Flames	NHL		13	3	2	5	25		16	5	2	7	74
2005–06	Calgary Flames	NHL		72	8	14	22	94		6	0	1	1	7
2006–07	New York Islanders	NHL		67	10	17	27	75		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	New York Islanders	NHL		28	1	2	3	43		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	Minnesota Wild	NHL		10	0	0	0	16		2	0	0	0	0
2008–09	Vityaz Chekhov	KHL		40	8	20	28	263		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Vityaz Chekhov	KHL		30	13	12	25	110		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	Vityaz Chekhov	KHL		43	16	12	28	111		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	UHC Dynamo	KHL		3	0	1	1	0		6	2	0	2	18
2011–12	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	KHL		24	3	0	3	43		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	KHL		28	1	2	3	28		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				864	144	161	305	1824		75	10	7	17	191
KHL totals				168	41	46	87	553		6	2	0	2	18

Awards and honours

Award	Year
NHL
Stanley Cup champion (Colorado Avalanche)	1996
KHL
Most Penalized Player (263 PIM)	2009
All-Star Game	2010, 2011

Transactions

• June 30, 1992: Traded by the Philadelphia Flyers, along with Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Philadelphia's 1993 1st round draft choice, Philadelphia's 1994 1st round draft choice and $15 million, to the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for Eric Lindros.
• June 21, 1995: Rights transferred to the Colorado Avalanche after the Quebec Nordiques relocated.
• November 2, 1996: Traded by the Colorado Avalanche, along with Curtis Leschyshyn, to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Keith Jones and Washington's 1998 1st and 4th round draft choices.
• November 1, 2002: Traded by the Washington Capitals, along with Andrei Nikolishin, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Michael Nylander, Chicago's 2003 3rd round draft choice and future considerations.
• July 25, 2003: Signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers.
• March 6, 2004: Traded by the New York Rangers, along with New York's 2004 7th round draft choice, to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Jamie McLennan, Blair Betts and Greg Moore.
• July 11, 2006: Signed as a free agent with the New York Islanders.
• February 26, 2008: Traded to the Minnesota Wild for a 6th round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
• March 27, 2009: Signed a one-year extension with Vityaz Chekhov.
• May 3, 2011: released from UHC Dynamo Moscow

External links

• Career statistics and player information from