NHL Entry Deadline: Flyers Exchange Wayne Simmonds vs. Nashville vs. Nashville and Conditional Draft Pick

614 games in the playoffs and playoffs after his arrival in Philadelphia in the infamous Mike Richards exchange, the time of Wayne Simmonds as a Flyer is over.

Simmonds was traded today, about three minutes before the NHL deadline at 3:00 pm, against the Nashville Predators, where he will have the chance to play with Peter Laviolette, the first coach he played with in Philadelphia . In return, the Flyers will welcome striker Ryan Hartman and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2020 that will become a third-round pick if the Predators win a playoff round.

We will have further thoughts on this trade – a trade that at first glance brings a return that seems … disappointing – in the near future, reflecting both the Simmonds era in orange and black as well as Hartman, the most recent. member of the Flyers. For the moment, we briefly salute a player who, for most of this decade, truly embodied what it meant to be a Philadelphia Flyer as well as anybody.

The writing about a potential trade with the Simmonds has been on hold for a while now, since it became clear that the Flyers' chances of playing in this season's playoffs have been reduced to below what could be considered as realistic. While Simmonds is on the verge of becoming an unrestricted free agent next July, it would be difficult for new General Manager Chuck Fletcher to have lost 29 goals in 82 games since arriving in Philadelphia without getting anything in return.

He knew it. We all knew this since we heard rumors about Simmonds in commercial negotiation for a good part of the season. And most importantly, the Flyers players knew it. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek – the two guys who, with Simmonds, will probably define this decade of Flyers hockey – gave Simmonds what amounted to a flight Saturday night after the match in the Stadium series, by giving him the player's helmet Of the game. of all he's done with this team:

The respect the guys in the locker room have for Simmonds, even this season because of his performance on the ice this year, has not lived up to what he has been for much of his Flyers career, is pretty clear. For 614 games, Simmonds gave nothing less than all he had in him for this team, and everyone watching him at that time took note.

It's more fun than we can say enough words to see Simmonds turn into what he has. Regarded as the secondary piece in the fact that Richards brought him with Brayden Schenn to Philadelphia in June 2011, Simmonds went from an interesting young winger who was clearly a tough hockey player to … a winger slightly more an older man who was a tough hockey player, but also a legitimately talented player who has emerged as the NHL's leading power-play goal scorer, unnamed Alex Ovechkin.

There was no puck for which he would not fight, no player with whom he would not fight, and no match against which he would not fight. To give him one of the assistant captain roles before the 2014-15 season was the most obvious. This decision was made by everyone at the Wells Fargo Center, and we will miss him in the locker room.

Just as we will miss him all. Once again, we'll have more thoughts on Wayne's career as a Flyer, as well as Ryan Hartman. Otherwise, it looks like we are fans of Predators for the next few months.