Wayne Simmonds wins 2017 NHL All-Star Game MVP

Wayne Simmonds won the 2017 NHL All-Star Game MVP after scoring three goals in two games. 

For a very long time, the NHL has had trouble reaching out to certain demographics. One of them has been African-Americans. However, thanks to the success of players like Jarome Iginla and Grant Fuhr, there have steadily been more African-Americans in the NHL as of late. Wayne Simmonds is one of them and he’s the 2017 NHL All-Star Game MVP.

The Philadelphia Flyers forward has been underrated for most of his career. He gets more attention for his fights and hard hits than for his steady offense. However, Simmonds is putting together a season even his harshest critics have to respect in 2016-17. Through his first 50 games, he has 38 points. With 0.76 points per game, he’s on pace to potentially set a career high in points and goals. After scoring 32 goals during the 2015-16 season, Simmonds already has 21 goals in the 2016-17 season.

He was a star throughout the three-on-three tournament. Simmonds scored two pretty goals in the Metropolitan Division’s win over the Atlantic Division and scored the game winning goal in the final against the Pacific Division. Here are some highlights from his night.

Note Simmonds does a great job of driving to the net. While he’s big, he’s deceptively quick and strong on his feet. Simmonds lacks the explosiveness of someone like Cam Atkinson, but he’s still a very adept skater. His speed is quite underrated.

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Atkinson and Braden Holtby each had very strong nights for the Metropolitan Division as well. So did John Tavares. For the Pacific Division, both Johnny Gaudreau and Connor McDavid were outstanding in a losing effort.