Chris Simon

Christopher J. Simon (born January 30, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger, who played 20 seasons of ice hockey: 15 seasons in the NHL and 5 seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League.

He last played for Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the KHL.

Known as an aggressive player, he was suspended eight times for a combined total of 65 games during his NHL 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.

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 has 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.

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.

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.

Grier and Simon were later teammates for a brief time in 2002 with the Washington Capitals.

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 and was then traded to the Minnesota Wild for a 6th round draft pick.

Chris Simon is of Ojibwa descent, and was born in Wawa, Ontario.

Chris Simon is seen as a role model to Native Canadians for his accomplishments in the NHL.

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

On March 8, 2007, the Islanders faced their fierce 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.

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.