Wayne Simmonds may be from Toronto, but his favourite team as a kid was a divisional rival

BarDown Staff

Simmonds says he'll bring 'functional toughness' to the Leafs

Wayne Simmonds is returning to where it all started.
On Friday, the Scarborough native joined the Maple Leafs on a one year, $1.5 million deal for what will be his 13^th season in the NHL. You would think a player returning home would have something to do with them wanting to play for their childhood favourite team, right?

Wrong. This is not John Tavares we’re talking about here!

According to Simmonds, he actually cheered for a team just south of the border. The Detroit Red Wings!!!!

"To be quite honest I wasn't a #leafsforever fan growing up. It won't be popular in Toronto but I grew up a #redwings fan.

-- #Newest Leaf Wayne Simmonds
— Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) October 9, 2020

Given Simmonds is 32 and on his back nine, Toronto definitely fits the bill as more logical team to win with. But hey, this doesn’t take away from the fact he’s a very proud Torontonian!

Wayne Simmonds is happy to be home 🍁 #FreeAgentFrenzy

A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on Oct 9, 2020 at 10:51am PDT

Simmonds is going to have a whole lot of chances to face is old favourite squad next season. Leafs fans can feel good knowing they got him over Detroit AND Montreal!

Hearing that Wayne Simmonds has narrowed his list to two teams and I believe those two teams are Toronto and Montreal. Remember Buffalo gave his camp the right to speak to teams this week ahead of the market opening.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 9, 2020

(H/T Mike Zeisberger)