Once he grows into his frame, he won't be trying to stick handle his way around them. He'll just go through them. People may laugh at me, but when Simmonds hits the 215 pound mark, he's going to be a beast and run people over. He's also going to get top six time as well as first time power play time. There's no reason to believe he won't pop 40 in a season soon.
I highly doubt Wayne Simmonds will hit the 215 mark until he starts getting a bit older and his metabolism slows down a bit. If he does gain the weight, I expect it would affect his speed quite a bit. Have you seen Wayne's calves, or his upper body with his shirt off? He's got chicken legs and he looks like he's got 2% body fat. I think he's just a "hard-gainer," meaning he has difficulty putting on mass. I don't think it's a big problem because he is clearly very strong already. It's just the body type he has. I bet Simmonds adds a lot of muscle (7-10lbs.) in the offseason and loses most of it during the course of the year. I'm not an expert, but I have a similar body type and even when I add weight, I always lose it during the hockey season (got the skinny calves too
).
Whatever the case may be, I don't think we need Simmonds to be a 40-goal scorer. I think if he can put up 25 goals consistently from year to year, that would be great for us.
I can't see Simmonds adding 10 lbs of muscle. The guy is lean as can be, and a bean pole. Its the way he is built.
Now for someone with the chicken legs he has, he is strong on the skates.
I didn't read this until after I posted, but it sounds like we agree...right down to the chicken legs.