Chris Simon, former Capitals enforcer, dies at age 52

Latest off profitable the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche when he joined the Capitals in 1996, the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder equipped grit and security on a Capitals group that made its first Stanley Cup finals look in 1998. Two seasons later, Simon grew to turn into an shocking scoring menace with a team-leading 29 goals whereas moreover major the group in penalty minutes (146).

Alongside together with his prolonged hair and swoony seems, Simon grew to turn into a fan favorite. The Capitals acknowledged his enchantment and featured him in promoting and advertising and marketing campaigns beneath new proprietor Ted Leonsis. In a single enterprise, he knocked over an aged woman at a grocery retailer to provide security for teammate Peter Bondra. The group’s fan membership named him the winner of the 1999-2000 Yvon Labre award, given to its favorite participant, besting five-time winner Bondra. The Capitals moreover made him their first bobblehead, which they gave away to followers at a recreation in 2001.

No matter his quiet demeanor off the ice, his game-time aggression usually boiled over in Washington; the NHL suspended him thrice, along with for a 1997 incident via which he used a racial slur in opposition to Edmonton’s Mike Grier. Nevertheless his disciplinary factors in D.C. paled in comparison with his time later with the New York Islanders, when he sat 25 video video games in 2007 for hitting Rangers forward Ryan Hollweg throughout the face alongside together with his stick, and 30 further for slamming his skate on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu.

Simon practically didn’t make it to the NHL; he nearly found himself out of hockey by 19 on account of alcohol abuse. Coaches and family intervened.

“You develop up fast in junior hockey, and I didn’t take care of it accurately,” he instructed Sports activities actions Illustrated in 1996. “Some man would acknowledge me in a bar and say: ‘You’re pretty sturdy as a hockey participant. Let’s see how sturdy you truly are.’ If I’d been consuming, I didn’t give a d—. I’d battle them.”

He obtained sober and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, twenty fifth complete, in 1990. Simon carried out 15 years throughout the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques (who moved to Colorado), Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, Islanders and Minnesota Wild, plus one different 5 seasons throughout the Kontinental Hockey League.

No matter making higher than $15 million in his career, in 2017 he filed for chapter and was part of a lawsuit in opposition to the NHL, alleging the league didn’t warn players about concussions and totally different risks. The NHL settled for $18.49 million, plus a whole of $70.6 million in licensed fees.

In 2017, he was reported to be affected by despair, anxiousness and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, in response to the Ottawa Citizen. Simon was married and divorced twice and had 4 children.

“I do know that if it wasn’t for me stopping consuming I would not be proper right here as we communicate having fun with throughout the NHL,” Simon instructed The Submit in 2000. “I don’t know that I’d be alive. I’m a higher particular person for it and a stronger particular person. Not consuming doesn’t trouble me anymore. At first it was sturdy, nonetheless now it’s my life and I’m glad being sober. I wouldn’t want it each different means.”