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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO — Wayne Simmonds has some unfinished business with the Maple Leafs. And a little unresolved anger, too.

The veteran winger still isn’t over how Toronto blew a 3-1 first-round playoff series lead to Montreal and was jettisoned from the postseason in a Game 7 defeat. On Tuesday Simmonds inked a two-year, $1.8 million extension to stay with the Leafs and try to be part of the solution to the team’s underachieving ways. 

“That loss to Montreal stung a lot. I think that was one of the hardest losses of my life,” Simmonds told reporters on a Zoom call Tuesday. “Reading about how we failed and what we should have done differently, it left a bitter taste in my mouth and is [still] a huge sting. I know we have a team that's good enough to go further than the first round. I just wanted to be back on this team and prove all our naysayers wrong. I know we've got a lot of work to do.”

Simmonds was so bothered by the Leafs’ exit that he didn’t watch another NHL playoff game until the Stanley Cup final – between Montreal and Tampa Bay – opened on Monday. It’s hard for Simmonds not to picture Toronto where the Canadiens are now, considering the Leafs had three cracks at sending Montreal home but found new ways to collapse at each turn.

In Game 5 of the first-round series, Toronto came back from a 3-0 deficit to force overtime, where Alex Galchenyuk’s turnover led to the Canadiens’ game-winning goal. 

In Game 6, the Leafs again overcame a 2-0 hole to force overtime, and Travis Dermott served up a giveaway that ended up in the back of the net.

Toronto didn’t do much of anything at all in Game 7, as Montreal mounted a 3-0 lead dented only by a single goal from William Nylander with 96 seconds left in regulation. 

“It was our [lack of] killer instinct,” Simmonds said. “We got all the way to the brink of eliminating Montreal and then we may have sat back a little bit too much and we didn't [go in for] the kill when we smelled blood in the water. We've got a lot of young guys on our team and sometimes it takes a little bit of sting for you to realize that you've got to work a little bit harder every summer. You've got to push your teammates that much harder to get to where you want to be.”

Despite how disastrously Toronto’s season ended, Simmonds said he never considered abandoning ship. The Scarborough, Ont., native has strong ties to the area, and knew his family would be happiest staying put. When the Leafs offered up two years on a new deal instead of one, the 32-year-old Simmonds felt the return was meant to be. 

“This is my home. This is where I want to be. This is where I want to raise my family. This is where I want to win a Stanley Cup,” he said. “It was a no-brainer for me, especially with two years on the table. At this stage in my life that I'm at…getting a multi-year deal allows me to be more comfortable and know I'm going to be in a spot where we have a chance to win.”

Now Simmonds wants to prove he can help the Leafs do that.

After signing a one-year free agent contract with Toronto last summer, Simmonds began finding his stride early in the 2020-21 campaign. Not only was Simmonds elevated from the fourth line into a second line slot with John Tavares, he became a fixture as the team’s net-front presence on the top power-play unit.

But a broken wrist in mid-February put Simmonds on the sidelines for six weeks, and he never fully recovered all of his game upon coming back. He finished the season with just seven goals and nine points in 38 games, but expects better contributions from himself in the future. 

“If you've ever broken your wrist, you know how hard it is to come back and have the same hands in tight,” Simmonds said. “You need quick hands, and if you're not fully healthy in your wrists and your hands, it's a little bit tougher. I tried to adjust my game…and whatever role I'm given on this team is the role that I'm going to be playing. I’m here to help the team win.”

Simmonds knows much of the heat for Toronto’s poor playoff performance this year fell on young stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who combined for one goal in the series against Montreal and were a non-factor throughout the three elimination games. But Simmonds was adamant in his defence of their character, and in what Matthews and Marner bring to the team. 

“They're unbelievable people, first and foremost,” he said. “I've played a long time in this league, and I haven't felt that comfortable in a dressing room since I was in Philadelphia in my early days, just with the way that they accepted me. The way they handle themselves as men, the way they play on the ice. It's a mix that I really enjoyed this year.”

Contemplating the season ahead, Simmonds has high hopes for the Leafs, and for his own personal experience with the franchise. Following a year of playing to mostly empty arenas, it’s possible that COVID-19 protocols in Ontario will relax enough by the fall to allow fans in the stands. Only then could Simmonds really share what this chapter means to him. 

“I got a small taste of what it is to be a Toronto Maple Leaf, but not the full thing,” he said. “I've got a two-year-old daughter. I wouldn't love anything more than to see her in the stands with her Simmonds jersey on, and [to see] my wife and family there too. That aspect of it would be pretty cool. But first and foremost it's about trying to win here and trying to be a part of something special.”