Simmonds after seeing his name in trade rumours
Is there any truth to the Wayne Simmonds to Montreal rumours?
Indeed, Habs GM Marc Bergevin was in Philadelphia several weeks ago to watch the Flyers play, encouraging some Canadiens bloggers to speculate that he might have interest in winger Wayne Simmonds.
The rumours didn't really go anywhere until this week, and this tweet:
@GagnonFrancois @YTSW Entendu sur la galerie de la presse a Calgary par un recruteur. Wayne Simmonds a Montreal. Avorter: Gel des echanges
— Marc-Eric bouchard (@MEBBouchard) December 23, 2015
Roughly translated, CBC's Marc-Eric Bouchard says he heard the Wayne Simmonds to Montreal rumour from a scout in Calgary. However, he claims, the Christmas freeze stopped the trade from going through. By that logic, the trade would go through soon after the trade freeze.
A rumour was born.
Whenever a GM was asked about it by Elliotte Friedman, they reacted with amusement:
"One GM laughed at speculation that Marc Bergevin likes Wayne Simmonds because he went to Philadelphia in-person. (For the record, Bergevin said he was there for Team Canada.) “Do you think Marc Bergevin needs to go to Philadelphia to see that Wayne Simmonds is good? Everyone already knows that. Without going there.”Some bloggers have shot the rumour down, but for the most part it still circulates throughout the online hockey world.
At a reasonable $3.9 million cap hit for the next four seasons, it's hard to find a reason why the Flyers would be eager to move him out.
That said, just about everybody on the Flyers roster (aside from Giroux and Voracek) is fair game.
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