Philadelphia Flyers Wayne Simmonds signs on with German Club -NHL Update
Philadelphia Flyers leading forward, Wayne Simmonds, became the latest National Hockey League (NHL) player to leave the continent and join a foreign league in view of the limitless lockout as the 24-year-old agreed to play next season with Eispiraten Criummitschau
GmbH in Germany, which is a tier II club in the Bundesleague.
St. Louis Blues forward, Chris Stewart, who is also a good friend of Simmonds, is reportedly gone as well to go play for the same German club, which also prompted Simmonds to reunite with him on a foreign trip.
“Wayne and Chris both have been wanting to play together for a long time,” Eustace King, the agent for both players, told the
Courier-Post. “They played together in amateur hockey and they had the potential to play together in the World Championships a couple years back but Wayne was hurt playing for the Los Angeles Kings, so he couldn’t.”
While Stewart and Simmonds might not have been able to play together in the NHL as much, they will now be given a whole year to improve on their game-play while show Germany some NHL action and why the North American league is known as the best in the world
when it comes to hockey.
“In one of the few times in their life they might ever get to play on the same sheet and the same ice, they wanted to do it together,” King added. “That’s why you see them playing together. They’re best friends.”
Simmonds was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings back in 2007 as the 61st overall and has definitely turned out to be one of the best in the league.
Last season, which was his first with Philadelphia Flyers after three straight with the Los Angeles Kings, Simmonds registered a career high of 49 points (28 goals, 21 assists), boosting his career total to 67 goals and 75 assists in 322 games played for
a total of 142 points.
Simmonds is also locked on to a six-year contract with Philadelphia, giving him a total of $23.85 million until the 2018-2019 regular season comes to an end and a huge $5 million amount in the final hockey year.
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