Simmonds has never been a particularly good even strength player. This is his 13th NHL season, and he’s been a minus player in all but one of those years, despite playing on plenty of good teams and lines. His 5v5 advanced stats have generally been below average - not terrible, but generally that of a mediocre bottom 6 player, even when he played in the top 6. He’s past his prime, and less effective than he used to be, but even prime Simmonds wasn’t great 5v5.
He’s an awkward/slow skater, he’s not very good defensively, not very good on breakouts, and doesn’t really drive possession. However, he’s a great net front presence on the PP, has a good shot and a nose for the net. He also brings lots of toughness and physicality. For 1 year $1.5 mil, I’m cool with the weaker 5v5 play, since he’s a big boon to the PP, and his toughness/physicality is much needed. Before we got Clifford, teams could intimidate us, I really see the value of having a Clifford/Simmonds type on the team.
IMO, we’ll miss his toughness and PP abilities these next ~6 weeks.
