The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they have made additions to their hockey operations staff with several hirings, including former fan favourite, Wayne Simmonds, according to General Manager Daniel Brière.
Simmonds, who spent 8 seasons with the Flyers between 2011 and 2019, was hired as Community Relations Ambassador and Hockey Operations Consultant.
Including the myriad of changes are the hiring of Reid Simpson as Director of Pro Scouting in Europe, Kedryn Orrison-Pilgrim as the Head Athletic Trainer for Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Lindsay Eastwood as Manager of Player and Hockey Communications, Ryan Cyr as the Goaltending Scout and Development Consultant, Oleg Znarok as the European Player Development and Scouting Consultant, and Ellyse Robert as a Hockey Analyst.
Simmonds was acquired by the Flyers during the summer of 2011 when they shipped out former captain Mike Richards to Los Angeles Kings. He played in 584 games for the Orange and Black, scored 203 goals and 378 points, accrued 784 PIM and 1,108 hits, and tallied two 30-goal seasons as well as 5 seasons with 28+ goals.
Simpson spent the last 8 seasons with the Montréal Canadiens as a pro scout between and was a former Flyers draft pick back in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. Orrison-Pilgrim spent the last 3 seasons with the Rochester Americans of the AHL where she was the Assistant Athletic Trainer, Eastwood was previously apart of the Hockey Communications department for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL after playing collegiately at Syracuse and professionally for the PHF’s Toronto Six, Cyr had spent parts of 7 seasons with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL in a coaching and consulting role, Znarok was a player for 22-years in the KHL and had coaching stints with multiple teams – most recently with Ak Bars Kazan in 2022-23 – and Robert spent 2 seasons previously with the Kings as a Data Analyst intern.
Simmonds retired from the NHL late last season after a 15-year career that was spent with the Kings, Flyers, the Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, and Toronto Maple Leafs. He gave everything he had during his 8-year tenure with the Flyers and will forever be remembered as one of the better power forwards of his time and in Flyers l0re.
His addition to the front office staff follows suit of the ‘New Era of Orange” as they are looking for people who understand what it’s like to be a Flyer as well as the hardships that they’ve gone through, which includes Brière, Keith Jones, John LeClair, and Patrick Sharp among others in recent years.
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