Together with his lengthy hair and swoony seems to be, Simon grew to become a fan favourite. The Capitals acknowledged his attraction and featured him in advertising campaigns underneath new proprietor Ted Leonsis. In a single business, he knocked over an aged lady at a grocery retailer to supply safety for teammate Peter Bondra. The staff’s fan membership named him the winner of the 1999-2000 Yvon Labre award, given to its favourite participant, besting five-time winner Bondra. The Capitals additionally made him their first bobblehead, which they gave away to followers at a recreation in 2001.
Regardless of his quiet demeanor off the ice, his game-time aggression usually boiled over in Washington; the league suspended him 3 times, together with for a 1997 incident wherein he used a racial slur in opposition to Buffalo’s Mike Grier. However his disciplinary points in D.C. paled compared to his time later with the New York Islanders, when he sat 25 video games in 2007 for hitting Rangers ahead Ryan Hollweg within the face with a stick, and 30 extra for slamming his skate on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu.
Simon nearly didn’t make it to the NHL; he almost discovered himself out of hockey by 19 due to alcohol abuse. Coaches and household intervened.
“You develop up quick in junior hockey, and I didn’t deal with it correctly,” he informed Sports activities Illustrated in 1996. “Some man would acknowledge me in a bar and say: ‘You’re fairly powerful as a hockey participant. Let’s see how powerful you actually are.’ If I’d been ingesting, I didn’t give a d—. I’d struggle them.”
He received sober and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, twenty fifth total, in 1990. Simon performed 15 years within the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques (who moved to Colorado), Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, Islanders and Minnesota Wild, plus one other 5 seasons within the Kontinental Hockey League.
Regardless of making greater than $15 million in his profession, in 2017 he filed for chapter and was a part of a lawsuit in opposition to the NHL, alleging the league didn’t warn gamers about concussions and different dangers. In 2021, the NHL paid $70.6 million in authorized charges, with the settlement allotting $18.49 million for the gamers.
In 2017, he was reported to be affected by despair, nervousness and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, in keeping with the Ottawa Citizen. Simon was married and divorced twice and had 4 youngsters.
“I do know that if it wasn’t for me stopping ingesting I’d not be right here right this moment enjoying within the NHL,” Simon informed The Put up in 2000. “I don’t know that I’d be alive. I’m a greater particular person for it and a stronger particular person. Not ingesting doesn’t hassle me anymore. At first it was powerful, however now it’s my life and I’m completely satisfied being sober. I wouldn’t need it every other manner.”
