Simon's 30 Games

Everyone seems to be weighing in on the suspension of Chris Simon (non-pool), so the Sherpa thought he would chime in with a couple pennies of his own. He agrees with the league... 30 games is just about right.

Now, I've never been a big Chris Simon fan... his style of play never really did a lot for my enjoyment of the game or maybe it was the fact that he was never on my team and since he played a great deal in the East, I didn't get to see him all that often, except for when he did something wrong. When he came to Calgary, however, myself, much like everyone, got to see him a fair bit and besides his stone hands and the piano tied to his ass on the ice, he really didn't put a foot wrong. Hell, in his 85 games with the Flames, he did score 11 goals... so his hands couldn't have been too bad. He was a plus player as well for the Flames... in actual fact, he wasn't that bad of a player to have on your team and he dropped the mitts so guys like Jarome Iginla (Aaron) or in this case, Bill Guerin (Dale B.) didn't have to. I know of you won't remember Chris Simon for his hockey ability, maybe I really won't either, but for the purposes of slagging him off, we really shouldn't be too quick to shrug off his actual hockey talent. He did have a 36-goal campaign in the OHL one year. Not bad for a future goon.

As for the offense itself, it's pretty scary to look at... thankfully, Jarkko Ruutu (non-pool) wasn't hurt too terribly (or for some who don't like him, may say differently) and so the suspension was kept within the ballpark of one season. But to stomp a guy with your skate blade, it really makes you wonder. I'm pretty happy to see the Islanders take a somewhat different approach to Simon's situation by encouraging Simon to get some counselling.

In all honesty, I don't forsee Simon taking many more faceoffs in the NHL, even if he successfully makes it through some sort of rehabilitation process. Unless Simon has to give flowers to his opposition as a part of his rehab, the intensity of the game will probably lead a volitile guy like that back into the violent way we already know. I don't think a team, let alone the one he's with that supports him to the end, will actually spend the money, only to have himself order another drink from the press box staff.

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NHL, Hockey, Hockey Pool, Suspension, New York Islanders, Chris Simon