Former Penguins forward Dominik Simon has agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Calgary Flames for $700,000. A development that no doubt will bring a smile to the face of my esteemed colleague Other Rick.
Indeed, the signing closes the book on one of the more polarizing players to skate for the black and gold in recent years.
Pens fans either loved him or hated him. Ditto the blogs. While some like Pensburgh and Pittsburgh Hockey Now sang Simon’s praises…Dan Kingerski rated the Czech Republic native one of the five most underrated Penguins of all-time…others such as PenguinPoop were less enamored.
If ever a player seemed to underscore the dichotomy between fancy stats and rubber-meets-the-road production, it was Simon. A noted possession driver, he logged an impressive Corsi of 54.4 during his 173 regular-season games in the ‘Burgh. In 2018-19, he led the entire NHL in EVD GAR (even strength defense goals above replacement) which solidified his standing as a darling among metrics mavens.
Sidney Crosby loved playing with him. Teammates and coaches sang his praises, citing his skill, creativity and high hockey IQ.
Yet for all his positive attributes, Simon rarely seemed to make a difference where it mattered most…on the score sheet. Indeed, his traditional stat line paled in comparison to the lavish praise heaped upon him. In a shade over two full seasons, he tallied 19 goals and 64 points, an average of nine goals and 30 points over an 82-game slate.
Okay numbers for a third-liner perhaps. But not for a player who spent over 40 percent of his 5-vs-5 ice time skating on Crosby’s wing.
Which brings us to the crux of the conundrum that Simon posed. He was a decent little complementary player with a nice skill set who was cast (or miscast) in a first-line role. Point a finger at Crosby and coach Mike Sullivan for thinking he was more.
Hey Rick,
Now I can breath. Now I am, as Mike Lange would say, “smiling like a butcher’s dog!”
Part of me would love to go through and debunk the Simon cool aid of Advanced stats by comparing his Advanced stats with and w/out Crosby and in close games vs blowout stat padding, but he is gone now (like with Robin’s minstrels) and there was much rejoicing, “yaaaaay!”
Hey Other Rick,
I was thinking about titling this post, “Christmas Comes Early for Other Rick” but I didn’t want to be too snarky.
An observation…it’s almost as if we traded Simon for Mark Jankowski. It will interesting to see who wins the “trade.” I think Calgary might. I can see Simon putting up better numbers with the Flames than Jankowski does for us.
I’m going to sound like I’m speaking double-talk, but it wasn’t that Simon was all that bad. It’s just that we had/have so many of the same guy. With a team like the Flames who are constructed in a more traditional way (with a physical presence…gasp) Simon could be a useful player.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Funny thing is, I almost wrote a similar thing about Christmas in October.
However, as I noted in our conversation down the gym and now am putting in writing, I see this as a lose – lose deal. I don’t see either player excelling. As you know I have looked at many, many of the stats and one of the most important is, when you compare Simon’s stats with and w/out Crosby there is a 27 point difference in +/-. Simon will no longer have Crosby to buoy up his stats.
Furthermore, Simon is a stat padder. Even his CORSI numbers were pedestrian last year when the score was tied. He padded them in blowouts one way or the other.
When Simon played for his homeland in the international Hockey Tournament a few years back, he feasted on teams like Italy, France, and the UK, who put almost no Players into the NHL but was less than invisible against teams like Canada, Finland, Russia, and USA.
I am no fan of JR but I think he pulled off 3 really good moves this off-season;
1) Trading for Kapanen (He may have paid too much because he probably could have haggled but Kapanen will be an asset)
2) Making the best of a bad situation and getting a 2nd round pick and drafting Blomqvist with that choice in exchange for Murray.
3) Getting divorced from Simon.
I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead so to speak, but the Pens are infinitely better off w/out Simon. If this were really a trade and not reciprocating signings, even if Jankowski is banished to the minors, the Pens would win this trade. Losing Simon is addition by subtraction.