Philadelphia Flyers: Wayne Simmonds wants to be booed in return to Philly

Wayne Simmonds will make an emotional return to his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, this season. He would be mad if Flyers fans don’t boo him.

It will be an emotional night in Philly on Oct. 9. New Jersey Devils forward Wayne Simmonds will be making an emotion return to the City of Brother Love when the Philadelphia Flyers host the Devils. Simmonds is one of the most popular Flyers in recent memory, as he was a throwback to the days of the Broad Street Bullies.

As you might know, Philly fans have a certain reputation. They tend to boo their opponents quite heartily. Simmonds is ready for it. In fact, it sounds like he would be mad if he doesn’t get booed. “To be honest, I think I’d be mad if they didn’t boo me,” Simmonds said, via NHL.com .

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Obviously, he’s just joking. He went on to say, “I played there a long time, almost eight years, so it’ll be nice going in there… That should be pretty cool. It’ll be a good experience. Looking forward to that.”

Simmonds has a great sense of humor and he knows there’s a very small chance of Flyers fans actually booing him. Fans got to see him grow from a promising young forward into one of the best power forwards in the NHL.

Flyers fans might jokingly boo him just to make him laugh, but Oct. 9 is going to be a day of remembering Simmonds terrific tenure with the team. He’ll hear a lot more cheers than boos. In 584 games with the Flyers, Simmonds scored 203 goals and had 378 points. His 203 goals rank 14th all-time in franchise history while his 378 points rank 22nd.

Simmonds ranks seventh in Flyers history with 91 power play goals. He made a name for himself by being a net-front presence on the Flyers power play. Simmonds also had 31 game winning goals for the Broad Street Bullies, which is tied for 13th with Rod Brind’Amour. He served as an alternate captain from the start of the 2014-15 season until his departure.

The Devils signed him to a one-year deal worth $5 million this summer. Simmonds was traded from the Flyers to the Nashville Predators at the 2019 trade deadline. With the Predators, he had three points in 17 games during the regular season.

Also, Simmonds played in two postseason games for Nashville, but suffered a knee injury and was unable to play in the remaining four games of their first-round series. In 2019, he won the Mark Messier Leadership Award, which is given out to the best leader in the league.

Simmonds might be jokingly expecting boos, but he better be ready for cheers and tears. There will be a lot of both when he returns to the city where he grew from a boy into a man.