Wayne Simmonds now has 10 goals on the season. It took him 20 games to get there, and we knew it was going to happen, because Simmonds is a goal scorer.
He has the most for the Philadelphia Flyers, after all. Next in line is Jakub Voracek with seven.
But of course, this isn’t anything new. For the past three seasons. Simmonds has been the Flyers’ goal-scoring leader. When he wasn’t the leader, he was at least in second place. He’s been scoring ever since he became a Flyer.
This is the fastest he’s hit 10 goals in a season, though. Via the Elias Sports Bureau:
Simmonds is the Flyers’ team leader with 10 goals this season and he reached double-figures in his 20th game, quicker than in any of his eight other seasons in the NHL. (His previous best was 21 games in 2012-13). This is the third time that Simmonds has been the first Flyers player to score 10 goals in his six seasons with the club. He also had that distinction in 2012-13 and 2014-15.
How many can we expect from Simmonds this year? He’s currently on pace for 41, which would be a career high by nine goals. He is shooting at 19.2%, however – a rate noticeably higher than his 13.3% career average.
Let’s assume he maintains his shot rate – 2.6 per game, which is actually less than the season before – but falls back to his career average shooting percentage. That puts him at 28 goals this season: a number he’s hit a couple of times with the Flyers, but still four shy of his career high of 32.
But a quick start certainly doesn’t hurt – and it’s easy to see him scoring at least another 20 over the next 62 games or so, isn’t it?
