Armchair Pools Blog

Recently, a stomping incident against Jarko Ruutu and a vicious slash to Ryan Holleweg have landed Simon in big trouble. He was given 30 and 25 game suspension respectively and his NHL career has been effectively ended.

So why do I feel bad for putting Simon on my list of dirty players?

While researching players for my 30 Dirty Players feature, I have seen a common theme. Remorse, or lack thereof. The real dirty players don't care about the damage they have caused and usually try to duck responsibility for their actions. The real dirty ones never apologize. When reviewing Chris Simon's history of dirty incidents, I found lots of incriminating evidence. However, I also found a lot of apologies.

After using a racial slur on the ice with Mike Grier, Chris Simon sought him out to apologize.

"I’m not making any excuses, it was very wrong what I said and I’m very sorry. That’s not the type of person I am. I just wanted to speak to him [Grier] and apologize.” After the meeting, Grier said, “We met for about five minutes and it went well. He said, ‘I’m sorry’ and I believe him; he had a very sincere look in his eye. It takes a stand-up person to come here and handle it the way he did . . . I accept his apology.”

Simon posted a statement including an apology on the Islanders' website after the incident with Ryan Holleweg.

"After watching the tape the morning after Thursday's game, I was disgusted," said Simon. "There is absolutely no place in hockey for what I did. I want to apologize to Ryan Hollweg. I was grateful to learn that Ryan is okay and that he returned to the game. My hope is to reach out to him in the near future."

After the Jarko Ruutu foot stomping incident, Simon also issued an apology

"There is no excuse for my actions on Saturday night and I apologize to everyone involved."

Doug Farber at Sports Illustrated suggests that despite his evil ways, Chris Simon may be a nice guy.

So who is he, really: the tough guy given to swinging his stick or the guy [Ted] Nolan says will do charity events at 6 a.m.? The guy who earned the NHL's longest suspension or a committed teammate who merely had what Hamrlik calls a "cuckoo moment?" If, as writer Flannery O'Connor suggests, good and evil appear to be joined in every culture at the spine, why can't Chris Simon be both?

I think there is a lot of good in Chris Simon. Unfortunately, he still qualifies as the Islanders dirtiest player.