Racist Fans force Wayne Simmonds, Chris Stewart to Leave Czech Republic Team - NHL Update
It is hard to believe that such people still exist in this day and age where elite level players are judged by the skin of their colour, but lost out those who made the racist remarks as Wayne Simmonds and Chris Stewart left the Czech Republic based team,
to go on to better things.
While this is not the first time Simmonds, a leading forward for the Philadelphia Flyers, has faced such people, he is definitely not letting this affect him in any way and plans on continuing to enjoy his time overseas during the National Hockey League
(NHL) lockout in North America.
"I've enjoyed myself since I've been in Europe, and I intend to keep enjoying myself," Simmonds said then. "And that's definitely not going to keep me down. I can tell you that."
Taking action, the handful of fans who made the racist remarks against Simmonds, have been arrested and are reported to be facing jail time for their inhumane actions that deserve to be punished.
"Liberec was a first-class organization," said Eustace King, the agent for Simmonds and Stewart. "But we believe we just caught them at an awkward time. They were going through a coaching change, there was an incident on the ice, and then when we took in
all these factors, it was in the best interest for the players to leave."
The 24-year-old native of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, was drafted as the 61st overall during round-two of the Los Angeles Kings who was traded in a blockbuster deal to the Philadelphia Flyers prior to the 2011-2012 NHL regular season.
In a total of 322 games played, Wayne Simmonds has 142 points, of which 67 games played and 75 assists made with 378 minutes of penalty time.
Simmonds is also locked on with the Philadelphia Flyers, who signed the youngster onto a six-year, $23.85 million contract which will make him an unrestricted free agent after the 2018-2019 regular season.
It will be interesting to see where Wayne Simmonds will go on to play during the lockout as some sources cite him in negotiations with other European clubs in different countries.
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