According to the Canadian Press on Tuesday, former National Hockey League enforcer Chris Simon died via suicide at the age of 52. The native of Wawa, Ontario played 15 NHL seasons from 1992 to 2008.
In all, Simon played for seven franchises. He was with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche from 1993 to 1996, the Washington Capitals from 1996 to 2002, the Chicago Blackhawks from 2002 to 2003, the New York Rangers from 2003 to 2004, the Calgary Flames from 2004 to 2006, the New York Islanders from 2006 to 2008, and the Minnesota Wild in 2008.
In 782 games, Simon had 144 goals and 161 assists for 305 points. He was a +28 with 1824 penalty minutes, 57 power-play points, 18 game-winning goals, and 1246 shots on goal. A Stanley Cup champion, Simon was part of the 1996 Avalanche winning team.
Twice during Simon’s career he reached 250 penalty minutes. The first time with the Avalanche in 1995-96, and the second time with the Rangers and Flames in 2003-04. Ironically in both of those seasons, Simon played in the Stanley Cup Final.
After his NHL career, Simon played five seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League from 2008 to 2013. He was with Vityaz Chekhov, OHK Dynamo Moscow and Metallurg Novokuznetsk. Just like his time in the NHL, Simon was an enforcer overseas. In his first season in the KHL, he had 263 penalty minutes.
