Wayne Simmonds claps back at reporter over false retirement announcement

On Friday, a report from Joshua Clipperton had dropped that implied that former Toronto Maple Leafs winger Wayne Simmonds had retired from the NHL at the age of 35. As it turns out, that report may have been a bit premature.

Following Clipperton's report, Simmonds took to social media today to refute the report, affirming that he did not, in fact, announce his retirement, even if it had appeared that way.


Simmonds did not seem pleased with the way this was brought out on social media, seemingly without his consent. For a player with 15 NHL seasons under his belt, he certainly deserved better. Whether Simmonds is planning to retire soon or not is still up in the air, but it's safe to say that he did not appreciate the reporter leaking false information regarding his current and post hockey decisions.


Wayne Simmonds is only 35 years old, and providing that he's still healthy and fit, there is still an opportunity for him to resume his NHL career in a depth role if he chose to do so. I suspect, though, that Simmonds' issue was more to do with someone else having assumed he was done rather than he himself having the honour of making that determination and a formal announcement.