With the club trailing 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens midway through its season opener Wednesday night, Simmonds challenged blue-liner Ben Chiarot to a fight that his teammates believed changed the complexion of the game.
"That was the turning point of the game, for sure," William Nylander said after the 5-4 win, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "He got the boys fired up. I think we were a little soft and slow in the beginning."
Toronto went on to score a pair of power-play goals following the tilt to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third period. Leafs rearguard Morgan Rielly, who scored the overtime winner, seconded Nylander's praise for the club's gritty winger.
"He's incredibly valuable to this team and we're very, very lucky to have him," Rielly said, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton. "He brings a whole lot of aspects of great things to our team in the way that he's able to play."
Simmonds, 32, signed a one-year, $1.5-million deal with the Leafs in October, and the veteran knows he can provide the team with an element of toughness that it's lacked in the past.
"I felt good," he said, according to Shilton. "It was my first real game action in 10 months, 28 days, and I could probably tell you to the second. I thought the boys needed a bit of a spark there. I know my role on this team. I asked Chiarot ... and it was green light go."
Simmonds added three hits while logging 10:25 of ice time in his Maple Leafs debut.
The NHL announced 22 players on 16 different teams are unavailable Wednesday for the opening night of the 2021 season due to COVID-19 protocols.
All those players can't practice, travel, or play. COVID-19-related absences can be due to a positive test, symptomatic individuals awaiting test results, mandatory quarantine, or isolation due to high-risk contact with another person who tested positive.
Here's the full list of players:
Team
Player
Arizona Coyotes
Lawson Crouse
Boston Bruins
Karson Kuhlman
Colorado Avalanche
Erik Johnson
Columbus Blue Jackets
Mikko Koivu
Detroit Red Wings
Darren Helm
Detroit Red Wings
Christian Djoos
Edmonton Oilers
Gaetan Haas
Edmonton Oilers
James Neal
Florida Panthers
Markus Nutivaara
Los Angeles Kings
Cal Petersen
Los Angeles Kings
Kurtis MacDermid
Los Angeles Kings
Sean Walker
Minnesota Wild
Alex Stalock
Nashville Predators
Mikael Granlund
Nashville Predators
Luca Sbisa
New York Rangers
Justin Richards
Philadelphia Flyers
Shayne Gostisbehere
Pittsburgh Penguins
Kasperi Kapanen
San Jose Sharks
Max Letunov
Vancouver Canucks
Jordie Benn
Vancouver Canucks
J.T. Miller
Winnipeg Jets
Nikolaj Ehlers
The league will release these lists daily throughout the season. No additional details, including the precise reason or potential absence length, will be provided.
The release also stated the Dallas Stars will announce their positive tests prior to their first game. Their season opener is postponed due to an outbreak that infected 17 players.
Amazon Prime Video and NHL Original Productions are partnering to create a multi-episode docuseries about the Toronto Maple Leafs' 2020-21 season, the league announced Wednesday.
"All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs" will provide an inside view of the team's campaign on and off the ice.
"This new Canadian original series will offer behind-the-scenes access and rarely seen (points of view) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the most storied hockey franchises - and my personal favorite team - during a season unlike any in NHL history," said James Farrell, Amazon Studios' vice president of local originals.
Amazon's "All or Nothing" series has followed several high-profile professional sports teams since launching in 2015. The Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur (2020) and the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles (2019) are among those to be recently featured. The Maple Leafs will be the first NHL team to appear in the series.
"This upcoming NHL season will be unique for many different reasons," said Maple Leafs president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan. "We feel that 'All or Nothing' will provide our team a way to connect with Maple Leafs fans here in Toronto and around the world like never before."
The Maple Leafs have a rich history and a large fan base, yet they haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and last won a playoff series in 2004. But led by phenoms Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, Toronto is the betting favorite to win the North Division this season and has legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella still isn't sure why Pierre-Luc Dubois wants to be traded, and he offered the budding forward some advice.
"(Dubois) hasn't given a reason why he wants to leave," Tortorella said Wednesday, according to 1st Ohio Battery. "He should get in front of it. That's the way I think you should go about your business and be the best team you can be."
Dubois, 22, signed a two-year, $10-million deal with the Blue Jackets on Dec. 31 as a restricted free agent, avoiding a long-term pact. He reportedly made it known prior to signing that he preferred a change of scenery.
The relationship between Dubois and the club apparently deteriorated during offseason negotiations. The Quebec native said recently that he doesn't want his situation to be a distraction for his teammates.
Tortorella's demanding approach was on full display in the bubble last summer when he and Dubois had a heated exchange on the bench during Game 2 of their qualifying-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 6-foot-3 pivot responded the next game, potting a hat trick in Columbus' victory.
The Blue Jackets selected Dubois third overall at the 2016 draft. He's tallied 65 goals and 158 points through 234 career contests.
Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Wednesday that Stone "embodies everything we want in a captain," according to The Athletic's Jesse Granger.
Stone led all Vegas forwards in average ice time last season while ranking second on the club in points and fourth in goals. He's an elite two-way player and one of the NHL's most versatile stars.
The Ottawa Senators traded the winger to the Golden Knights at the 2018-19 deadline.
Vegas opted not to name a captain in its first three seasons, which included an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural campaign and a Western Conference Final appearance in 2019-20.
Stone spent parts of seven seasons with Ottawa to begin his career. He ranks 10th in goals and points on both the Senators' and Golden Knights' all-time lists.
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Finally, the NHL is back! And like David Puddy at a Devils game, I can hardly contain myself.
The best advice I can give for these opening few days is to exercise caution. Some of these teams haven't played in over 10 months, and there are a lot more variables at play this year than ever before, many of which are impossible to quantify right now.
That being said, there will also be opportunities in these opening days and weeks to pounce on inefficiencies in the market before books adjust, so let's dive into the first couple of nights and see what we like.
Canucks (+110) @ Oilers (-130); Jan. 13, 10 p.m. ET
The Canucks visit the Oilers for a season-opening back-to-back. I'll be on the Oilers on Wednesday if, as assumed, Braden Holtby starts the opener. Holtby was abysmal last season, posting the second-worst GSAA (-16.81) in the league. He also had a high-danger save percentage of just .780.
That doesn't bode well for a Vancouver team that was often bailed out by Jacob Markstrom, who posted an 11.45 GSAA and .838 HDSV% in 2019-20.
Edmonton has its own questions in goal and on the blue line, but this is a squad that can generate offense with the best of them. The Oilers offer good value at a short price with Holtby between the pipes. There in turn could be solid value on the Canucks on Thursday at plus money with Thatcher Demko in net.
Pick: Oilers -130
Bruins (-175) @ Devils (+155); Jan. 14, 7 p.m. ET
I'm expecting big things out of MacKenzie Blackwood this season. Overall, this young, hungry Devils team has a lot to prove, and it should be more competitive in a very tough East Division than many are giving New Jersey credit for. Meanwhile, the Bruins come in without David Pastrnak for the first month of the campaign and a worrisome lack of depth on the blue line.
If this line is anything to go by, it looks like Boston is being overvalued early on. This Bruins team isn't going to be nearly as good as in years past against very strong competition in the East. I'll gladly take a discount on the Devils in their home opener.
Pick: Devils (+155)
Islanders (-110) @ Rangers (-110); Jan.14, 7 p.m. ET
Big things are expected of the Rangers this year. They're going to be a very fun team to watch, but it's also going to take some time for them to truly hit their stride given how little hockey they've played over the last 10 months. They will score a lot, but this is still a club that ranked dead last in 2019-20 in expected goals against and allowed the most high-danger chances in the NHL.
The Rangers' lack of continuity won't be an issue for the Islanders. They're a fundamentally sound team that played deep into the 2020 playoffs. The Isles are well-coached, deep down the middle, and primed for a strong start this season.
Pick: Islanders (-110)
Wild (-115) @ Kings (-105); Jan. 14, 10 p.m. ET
Maybe I'm missing something here, but these odds are way off. A line of -115 implies just a 53.5% chance for the Wild to win this game when in reality it's closer to 58%, or -138. Minnesota is far from a complete team, but the Wild are as deep as ever on the back end and will be much improved offensively.
However, this is more of a bet against the Kings than anything. Los Angeles, in the midst of a rebuild, owns one of the league's worst rosters. The Kings' top six is hard to look at, while Jonathan Quick's best days are well behind him. It's going to be a long season for L.A., but there are much better days ahead for a franchise that's done an excellent job reloading the prospect pool.
Pick: Wild (-115)
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, loves a juicy puck line, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
Johnson is nearing the end of his quarantine, Bednar added.
The veteran rearguard will be able to join the team Saturday if all goes well, the bench boss said, according to The Associated Press' Patrick Graham.
Johnson missed most of training camp and was deemed "unfit to play."
The 32-year-old ranked third on the Avalanche in average ice time last season, though he was limited to 59 games due to injury. He played nine playoff contests in 2019-20, but appeared in only one of Colorado's seven games against the Dallas Stars in the second round.
Several players will be pursuing milestones during the upcoming 56-game season. Will Patrick Kane score 11 goals to get the 400th of his career? Can Ryan Getzlaf and Anze Kopitar produce at a steady level to each hit 1,000 points?
All eyes will be on some of the game's greatest stars as they attempt to reach impressive heights and cement their legacies. Let's look at six of the most significant milestone pursuits to track this season.
Ovechkin: Top 5 on the all-time goals list
Pool / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Last season was filled with milestones for Ovechkin. He notched his 700th career NHL goal, and the veteran also passed Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, and Mark Messier to rank eighth on the all-time goals list. He's entering this season with 706 goals, giving him a legitimate shot at reaching No. 5 in 2021.
The 35-year-old is three goals shy of passing Mike Gartner (708) for seventh, 11 behind Phil Esposito for sixth (717), and 25 behind Marcel Dionne (731) for fifth. Ovechkin is also within striking distance of No. 4 Brett Hull, who's 35 ahead.
There's no reason to believe Ovechkin will slow down. He's averaged 0.64 markers per game over the past three seasons, putting him on pace to score 36 in a 56-game campaign. That's also the number Ovechkin needs to reach to finish the year at No. 4 on the all-time goals list.
Marleau: No. 1 on the all-time games played list
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Marleau's longevity in the league is unmatched. He's entering his 23rd season after playing in 854 consecutive games - the fifth-longest ironman streak in league history. He's been playing in the NHL since 1997 and has missed only a handful of games, and none over the last 11 seasons.
The 41-year-old inked a one-year pact with the Sharks this offseason, and he's 45 contests shy of passing Gordie Howe for the all-time games played record. Marleau has appeared in 1,723 games, and Howe suited up for 1,767. If Marleau stays healthy and in the Sharks' lineup this campaign, he can leapfrog Howe over the 56-game schedule.
Crosby: 1,000 games played
Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / Getty
Crosby would have hit this milestone no problem last year if he didn't suffer an injury and then face a shortened season. Now he needs to play just 16 games to accomplish the feat. If he laces up for every contest to start the year, Crosby is on track to play in his 1,000th game against the Washington Capitals at home on Valentine's Day.
Crosby is already the Penguins' all-time leader in games played after surpassing Mario Lemieux (915 games) two seasons ago. No player in the franchise's history has eclipsed the 1,000-game mark, and Crosby being the first would be special.
Ovechkin vs. Crosby: Race to 1,300 points
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Crosby and Ovechkin have been going head-to-head since they both stepped into the league 15 years ago. So it's fitting that the two will be racing toward a major milestone this late in their careers.
Ovechkin sits 22 points shy of 1,300, while Crosby needs 37. Ovechkin looks to be in the driver's seat to hit the mark first, but it certainly isn't impossible for Crosby to beat him.
Only 34 players in league history have registered 1,300-plus points, and with them both playing at a top-tier level, Crosby and Ovechkin could get high on the list. Ovechkin has averaged 1.05 points per game over the past three seasons, while Crosby has managed 1.16. The race to 1,300 may come down to the wire.
Fleury: No. 4 on the all-time wins list
Ethan Miller / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Marc-Andre Fleury needs 19 wins this season to pass Ed Belfour for No. 4 on the all-time goalie wins list. The feat would be easier to accomplish for Fleury if Robin Lehner wasn't in Vegas, but it's still well within reach.
Barring injury, Lehner will likely start more games than Fleury this season. Fleury could conservatively still get the nod for 20-25 matchups, which means his record will need to be nearly flawless for him to reach the milestone this campaign.
Trotz: No. 3 all time in coaching wins
Mike Stobe / National Hockey League / Getty
New York Islanders bench boss Barry Trotz has been an NHL head coach since 1998, so it's no surprise that he's set to become one of the winningest coaches of all time this year.
With five victories this season, Trotz will pass Ken Hitchcock and rank No. 3 on the all-time coaching wins list - trailing only Joel Quenneville and Scotty Bowman. Trotz is also 26 games away from joining Quenneville and Bowman as the only coaches in NHL history who have led teams for 1,700-plus games.
Trotz has logged only one losing season since 2003. He's won two Jack Adams awards, and his Washington Capitals took the Stanley Cup in 2018. He spent 15 seasons with the Nashville Predators, four with the Capitals, and is now entering his third year with the New York Islanders. His coaching skills are superb, and this milestone is about as automatic as possible.
