Wayne Simmonds absent from practice on Wednesday, but the reason is actually wonderful
It was great to see resident sniper Auston Matthews back at practice on Wednesday, but there was one notable absence among the forward groups. Wayne Simmonds was not at Leafs practice on Wednesday, which raised a few eyebrows.
Some had begun to speculate that perhaps he had suffered in injury in his fight Monday night against Hurricanes defender Brendan Smith or that today was simply a maintenance day for the 33-year-old forward. Fortunately for Simmonds and the Buds, he missed practice because of the birth of his second child.
Simmonds will not be flying with the Leafs to Calgary today as he is spending time with his family. As of this moment, it is unclear whether or not he will play in tomorrow's game against the Flames. If Simmonds doesn't not travel to Calgary for tomorrow nights game, Travis Dermott could slot into the lineup and the Leafs could go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, as we saw at points last season.
From everyone on the LetsGoLeafs team, we'd like to send our heartfelt congratulations to the Simmonds family on the new addition to the Simmonds crew!
