Wayne Simmonds Confirms Retirement
March 18: Simmonds has officially announced his retirement and will sign a one-day contract with the Flyers, per a team release. He’ll sign the contract and be honored by the team on April 13, the second-to-last home game of Philadelphia’s season.
Jan. 26: Free agent winger Wayne Simmonds told Joshua Clipperton of The Canadian Press on Friday that he won’t continue his 15-season NHL career. The 35-year-old has yet to file retirement paperwork with the league but confirmed he will not attempt a comeback.
Simmonds last suited up in 2022-23, making 18 appearances with the Maple Leafs. The Scarborough, Ontario native reached UFA status after completing a two-year, $1.8MM extension signed with Toronto in June 2021.
He played for six NHL clubs during his career. The first of those was the Kings, who selected him with the final pick of the second round in the 2007 draft from the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack after racking up 49 points and 112 PIMs in 66 games.
Simmonds spent the following season back in junior hockey, breaking out for his first point-per-game campaign and winning gold with Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championship. That was enough of a development jump for the Kings, who named Simmonds to their opening-night roster in 2008-09.
The Kings struggled that season, finishing three games below .500 and scoring only 2.46 goals per game, but Simmonds’ rookie performance was promising. He didn’t earn Calder Trophy consideration, but he played in all 82 games while posting 23 points in a bottom-six role.
His sophomore season wasn’t his defining campaign, but it was a large step forward. The Kings offense went from 28th to seventh in 2009-10, and Simmonds’ 16 goals and 40 points (along with 116 PIMs) helped kickstart the jump. He finished with a team-high +22 rating, too, earning him a handful of Selke Trophy votes.
He took a small step back in the third and final season of his entry-level contract, though, seeing his goal and point output drop to 14 and 30, respectively. With the Kings exiting their late 2000s rebuild and looking to build a more veteran core around Anže Kopitar and Drew Doughty, they decided to cut bait with Simmonds and ship him, along with center prospect Brayden Schenn, to the Flyers in the 2011 offseason in exchange for established top-six threat Mike Richards.
The trade worked out well for the Kings, who won two Stanley Cups over the next three seasons with Richards anchoring their second line. It also worked out quite well for Simmonds, who scored 28 goals in his first season with Philadelphia and spent parts of eight years in the City of Brotherly Love.
With the Flyers, Simmonds became one of the most visible power forwards in the league, inking a six-year, $23.85MM extension within two years of the trade and eventually eclipsing the 30-goal mark twice. He racked up 203 goals, 175 assists and 378 points over his 584 games for the Flyers, consistently logging top-six minutes and serving an important leadership role, as evidenced by his Mark Messier Leadership Award win in his final season with the team.
As the extension wrapped up, though, it was clear Simmonds was in an early decline. His totals had steadily dropped since his 32-goal, 60-point season in 2015-16, and the Flyers decided to part ways with the fan-favorite near the 2019 trade deadline. They dealt him to the Predators, who were two years removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance, but his play outside of Philadelphia stagnated further. He recorded one goal and three points in 17 games with Nashville after the trade and played in two of six games during their first-round loss to the Stars.
Simmonds spent the following four seasons playing for the Devils, Sabres and Maple Leafs in a reduced role, seeing his ice time dip below 10 minutes per game by the 2021-22 season. He was waived twice over the course of the 2022-23 campaign, recording two assists in 18 games to close out his career.
He ends his time in the NHL with 263 goals, 263 assists and 526 points, along with 1,313 PIMs, over the course of 1,037 games. He also added 22 points in 53 career playoff games.
PHR extends its best wishes to Simmonds in his post-hockey career and congratulations him on a lengthy and impactful NHL stint.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Maple Leafs Move Calle Jarnkrok To LTIR, Activate Conor Timmins
The Toronto Maple Leafs have moved forward Calle Jarnkrok back to long-term injured reserve, once again with a hand injury – per CapFriendly. Jarnkrok suffered the injury in the team’s March 14th win over the Philadelphia Flyers, exiting early after falling awkwardly into the boards. He seemed to collide his head, shoulder, and lower arm with the boards, making it hard to determine the specifics of his injury. It’s also not clear if the injury relates to the broken knuckle Jarnkrok suffered in late January. That injury earned him a month-long stint on LTIR and forced him out of 13 games.
In a corresponding move, the Maple Leafs have also activated defenseman Conor Timmins off of LTIR. He’s been out since February 13th with mononucleosis. Timmins has also had a string of absences this season, with a lower-body injury delaying the start of his season until late November. Timmins has played in just 16 games this season, notching one goal, six points, eight penalty minutes, and a +5. Jarnkrok’s sidelining and Timmins’ activation were made ahead of Toronto’s Saturday night loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, though Timmins wasn’t rostered for the game.
The Leafs will need to change up their lineup once again, with Jarnkrok joining Mitch Marner sidelined with injury. The absences have earned Pontus Holmberg a top-six role next to Tyler Bertuzzi and Auston Matthews, while Nicholas Robertson has slotted back onto the third line after a brief stint out of the lineup. Both Holmberg and Robertson are still searching for their scoring groove this season, with just 13 and 20 points respectively. They will work with other depth forwards like Connor Dewar and Noah Gregor to try and keep Toronto red-hot, after the team has gone 16-5-1 in their last 22 games. Meanwhile, Timmins will add extended depth to a blue-line that recently acquired Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson. They’ll have plenty of blue-liners to choose from, with Timmins and Simon Benoit operating as healthy scratches and Mark Giordano currently out with injury.
Samsonov Leaves Practice Early But Will Start Tonight
- While Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov exited today’s morning skate early with what looked to be an injury, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link) that Samsonov is fine and will get the start tonight against Carolina. Samsonov has rebounded well after a disastrous start to his season, posting a .912 SV% since January 1st compared to the .862 mark he put up in his first three months of the year.
Maple Leafs Designate Calle Järnkrok As Week-To-Week
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday that forward Calle Järnkrok will be out week-to-week due to a hand injury. Winger Mitch Marner, who’s missed two games with a high ankle sprain, has also been ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Hurricanes (via Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun). It likely won’t be Marner’s last absence, either, as Keefe said he’ll need a bit to ramp up from the injury and won’t begin skating routinely until next week.
Järnkrok sustained the injury when he lost an edge and collided with the boards in last night’s 6-2 road drubbing of the Flyers. It’s unclear if this injury is related to the knuckle fracture that recently sidelined him for over a month. With 33 days remaining until the end of Toronto’s regular season schedule, there’s no guarantee Järnkrok will return before the postseason begins, especially if this hand injury is similar in severity to his previous one.
The 32-year-old is again giving the Leafs decent bang for their buck in a versatile top-nine role, posting above-average possession impacts with a 52.2 Corsi-for percentage at even strength and a career-high +10.2 expected rating. His actual +16 rating is third among Toronto forwards behind Marner and Auston Matthews. That’s helped offset a slight decrease in offensive production. He’s scored 10 goals and 21 points in 52 games, a slight decrease in pace from last year’s 20 goals and 39 points in 73 games, but he remains a decent plug-and-play option who can occupy all three forward positions and log significant minutes, averaging 15:15 per game.
With Järnkrok out, the team will likely give youngster Nicholas Robertson another shot in a top-nine role. The 22-year-old has eight goals and 19 points in 41 games this season while averaging 11:21 per contest, all career-highs, and didn’t look out of place on a strong third line with Bobby McMann and captain John Tavares during Järnkrok’s last extended absence. He’ll likely re-enter the lineup tomorrow for the first time since Feb. 29 against the Coyotes, after which he was briefly assigned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies to create cap space and roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline.
Mitch Marner Out With Ankle Sprain
Missing the team’s most recent game against the Montreal Canadiens, concerns began to arise regarding the status of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner. However, in comforting news surrounding the star forward, it was revealed that Marner was only dealing with a mild ankle sprain, and would take a few more days to fully recover (Article Link).
Down the stretch, with Marner playing in nearly all of Toronto’s games this season, the Maple Leafs may opt to keep him out of the lineup for several games due to load management. Taking into account the recent downturn from the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto now holds a comfortable playoff position in the Atlantic Division by a margin of eight points.
The Maple Leafs could theoretically catch up to the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division race, but they would only be playing for home-ice advantage in the first round, as it is unrealistic to imagine the team catching up with the Florida Panthers. Keeping this in mind, it will be more important that all the star players on Toronto’s roster are fully healthy for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, which will inevitably influence the organizational decision-making over the next several weeks.
Maple Leafs Sign Bobby McMann To Two-Year Extension
Per a team announcement, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed forward Bobby McMann to a two-year, $2.7MM extension, paying McMann an AAV of $1.35MM a year. McMann is currently in the last year of a two-year, $1.525MM contract signed with the Maple Leafs after the conclusion of his NCAA career back in 2022.
In college, McMann spent his tenure with Colgate University in the ECAC Hockey Division. Over a four-year career, McMann suited up in 145 games for the Raiders, scoring a total of 37 goals and 92 points. In his last year with the team, serving as the captain, McMann put together a 10-goal 20-point season in 30 games, leading to his entry-level contract with Toronto after their season had concluded.
In his first full year with the Maple Leafs organization in 2021-22, McMann spent the entire year in the AHL, playing for the Toronto Marlies. Getting off to an impressive start, McMann went on to score 24 goals and 35 points in 61 games, finishing second on the team in goal-scoring. Last season, even though he was able to register 10 games in the NHL with the Maple Leafs, McMann once again spent the majority of the season in the minors, becoming a near-point-per-game player putting up 21 goals and 29 points in 30 games.
Finally, McMann has become a full-time player at the NHL level with Toronto and has become a legitimate goal-scoring threat. He did get off to a slow start this season at the game’s highest level but has put together a recent hot streak. In his last 15 games for the Maple Leafs, McMann has scored eight goals and 11 points over that stretch, earning a spot next to Matthew Knies and David Kampf on the team’s third line.
Maple Leafs Promote Nicholas Robertson
The Maple Leafs have brought young winger Nicholas Robertson back up to the NHL roster ahead of Thursday’s game in Philadelphia, a team announcement states. Toronto only has $344K remaining in its LTIR salary pool, which is not enough to accommodate Robertson’s $797K cap hit, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction later today to remain cap-compliant. That transaction will likely transfer defenseman Mark Giordano from IR to LTIR, per CapFriendly.
Robertson, 22, was sent down to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies earlier this month after the activation of Calle Järnkrok off LTIR and the acquisition of Ilya Lyubushkin created a roster crunch. At the time, head coach Sheldon Keefe informed Robertson it wouldn’t be a lengthy stay in the minors, and the organization has stayed true to its word.
The 2019 second-round pick has demonstrated the consistency necessary to remain in consideration for a full-time job on the playoff-bound Leafs. The younger brother of Stars star winger Jason Robertson has eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 41 games this season while averaging 11:22 per game, all of which are career highs. Robertson, who recorded 11 points in nine games with AHL Toronto to kick off the season, did not suit up with the Marlies during this brief reassignment.
The California-born winger has posted solid possession during his limited even-strength minutes, posting a 50.3 CF% and a 52.7 xGF%, which are close to team averages. He’s averaged a little north of 30 seconds per game on the power play and remains only a depth option on special teams behind Toronto’s loaded arsenal of star power.
Robertson comes up to the active roster as winger Mitch Marner remains absent from practice after missing this weekend’s win over the Canadiens with a lower-body injury, per Mark Masters of TSN. He remains listed as day-to-day after falling awkwardly after a scoring chance against the Bruins in the second period of a loss last Thursday.
Giordano, 40, has missed five games with a concussion sustained on Feb. 29 against the Coyotes. Placing him on LTIR means he won’t return until March 24 against the Hurricanes at the soonest, assuming the placement is retroactive to when he sustained the injury.
Robertson is in the final season of his entry-level deal and will be an RFA this summer. He does not have arbitration rights but is eligible to be offer-sheeted.
Marner Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury
- Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and won’t play tonight versus Montreal, relays David Alter of The Hockey News (Twitter link). He will be re-evaluated in Toronto to assess the extent of the injury. Marner is once again one of Toronto’s top scorers this season, leading the team in assists with 51 and sitting third in points with 56. He had been on pace to reach 100 points for the first time but if he misses more than just a few games with this injury, that milestone could ultimately be out of reach.
Maple Leafs Acquire Connor Dewar
The Maple Leafs have acquired depth forward Connor Dewar from the Wild, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Wild are receiving a 2026 fourth-round pick in return, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Forward prospect Dmitry Ovchinnikov is also headed to Minnesota in the deal, per an official announcement from the Wild.
Dewar has settled into a comfortable fourth-line role since making his debut in the 2021-22 season, finding an extra layer to his game this year with a career-high 10 goals, though he’s still four points shy of the 18 points he managed in 81 games last season. Last year marked the first time that Dewar spent all season in the NHL, a trend he’s continuing this year, after scoring 59 points in 105 AHL games between 2019 and 2022. Dewar was a third-round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, playing in the sixth-most NHL games of any player selected after that year’s first round. While his impact isn’t too grandiose, Dewar has shown flashes of strong puckhandling and good fundamentals, helping him fit into the needs of whatever the coach’s system may be.
Minnesota swaps a depth forward for a depth prospect, bringing in Ovchinikov, who is in his first full season in the AHL after splitting the last two years between the AHL and KHL. He’s scored seven goals and 10 points in 20 games this season, adding four penatly minutes and a -1. It’s the second-most that Ovchinikov has scored at a professional level, behind the five goals and 13 points he managed in 68 KHL games last season. Ovchinikov is a slick-moving forward with good puck skills, though his game has lacked direction and poise. He will need to boost his drive to the net, and ability to work with his teammates, if he wants to climb his way up Minnesota’s depth charts.
Tony DeAngelo, Seven Others Placed On Waivers
March 8: Katchouk is heading from the Blackhawks to the Senators, Lagesson is going from the Maple Leafs to the Ducks, and Björnfot is going from the Golden Knights to the Panthers. The five other players on waivers yesterday cleared.
March 7: Eight players, including Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo, were placed on waivers Thursday, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The full list is as follows:
Calgary Flames
D Jordan Oesterle
Carolina Hurricanes
D Tony DeAngelo
F Brendan Lemieux
G Antti Raanta
Chicago Blackhawks
F Boris Katchouk
Florida Panthers
G Evan Cormier
Toronto Maple Leafs
D William Lagesson
Vegas Golden Knights
D Tobias Björnfot
Of note, players who are assigned to the minors after clearing waivers tomorrow will be eligible to play in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Players must be on loan to the AHL at the time of the trade deadline to be cleared to play in postseason action.
The Hurricanes’ trio of waived players is purely for roster flexibility ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic says. It’s unclear if any of the three players will be assigned to AHL clubs if they pass through unclaimed. The Hurricanes are the only NHL team without a dedicated AHL affiliate.
Raanta, a pending UFA with a $1.5MM cap hit, has a decent chance at being claimed by a team looking to add a backup netminder for free by tomorrow afternoon. That could very well include the Flyers, who have struggled to find consistency in the crease outside of breakout starter Samuel Ersson. Raanta has struggled this season with a .872 SV% and 2.99 GAA behind a stout Hurricanes defense, but he’s now posted a SV% above .900 in each of his last three appearances and could be on the upswing at just the right time. With Frederik Andersen returning to health after a months-long absence and both Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin playing well, Raanta appears unlikely to be back with Carolina this season regardless of whether he gets claimed.
Oesterle will likely head to the minors after being pushed down the Flames’ defensive depth chart. The club has brought in Joel Hanley off waivers and Daniil Miromanov via trade from the Golden Knights this week, eliminating the need for Oesterle as a depth option on the roster for now. The 31-year-old has two assists and a -6 rating in 22 games.
Assigning Katchouk to AHL Rockford will allow Chicago to clear a necessary roster spot ahead of Saturday’s game against the Capitals. Both Andreas Athanasiou and Nikita Zaitsev are expected to play, per Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, and will need to come off injured reserve to do so. The Blackhawks only have one open roster spot, so one more needed to be cleared.
Cormier was not signed to an NHL contract, so the Panthers inked him to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$75K AHL) for the remainder of the season before waiving him, per PuckPedia. The 26-year-old has a .868 SV% and 1-2-2 record in five games for AHL Charlotte this season and a .910 SV% and 8-5-3 record in 18 games for ECHL Florida. By signing him to an NHL contract, he’ll be eligible to be on the Panthers’ roster in the postseason as added goaltending insurance if necessary.
Toronto’s waiving of Lagesson was reported earlier Thursday. He’s been designated non-roster while on the waiver wire, creating the necessary roster space for Joel Edmundson, who was acquired from the Capitals today. He’s dressed in 30 games for the Leafs, notching four assists and a +5 rating while averaging 14:31 per game.
Meanwhile, Björnfot, a 2019 first-round pick of the Kings, lands on waivers for the second time this season. Vegas claimed him off waivers from Los Angeles in January, but he played in just two games for them while battling injuries, posting a -2 rating while averaging 14:01 per game. Assigning him to AHL Henderson would create an open roster spot ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, allowing the Golden Knights to make a potential third acquisition after bringing in Noah Hanifin and Anthony Mantha.