Leafs’ Wayne Simmonds calls out Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons for “asinine” story

Toronto Sun writer Steve Simmons has been criticized by a pair of NHL players at the centre of one of his recent articles, including a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the “Hear and There” section of a Sunday column, Simmons contrasted the careers of Akim Aliu and Wayne Simmonds, two Black hockey players with varying degrees of success in the NHL.

Aliu played just seven NHL games after being taken 56th overall in the 2007 NHL Draft.

Simmonds, meanwhile, has played 1019 NHL games and has spent the last two seasons with the Leafs after spending time in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Buffalo.

Aliu, one of the founding members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance created in 2020 to fight racism in hockey, has spoken widely about the overt and covert discrimination he experienced throughout varying levels of his hockey career, having most recently played for Czech-based Litvinov HC in 2019-20.

“No one wants to say this because of the politically correct police and all, but those who coached Akim Aliu must cringe every time they see him in a news report or a commercial talking about what’s wrong with hockey. Like he would know. By my count, Aliu played for 23 teams in nine different leagues in 12 professional seasons and rarely finished any season with the same team he started with. If that was colour-related, how is it that Wayne Simmonds spent just about the same 12 seasons playing in the NHL?” Simmons wrote.

Simmons is the longest-serving member of the Toronto chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers’ Association, having covered the Leafs since 1980.

Simmonds took to Twitter on Sunday night to offer his reply.

“Just a quick msg to the hockey world. I usually don’t have time for this but tonight I do! I really don’t appreciate what your trying to do (Steve Simmons) your article was asinine and in no way reflects the real plight that my self, Akim and other players of colour go through,” Simmonds wrote in a tweet.

“You Are Minimizing the pain and suffering and dismissing the actual fight that we as a ppl actually have to endure just to even be accepted in the game of hockey at a lower level nvm the professional ranks. DO NOT EVER use my name or any other player of colour’s name to try and make your point. We will no longer sit by quietly as our characters are assassinated Steve! This will only make us stronger and speak out against ppl of your nature! If you were trying to be cool or funny, you missed your mark. YOUVE BEEN WARNED!!! Ps this is me being nice!” Simmonds added.

Aliu also posted a reply to the article, via a Twitter video captioned “Hate will never win”.

“Obviously being in this space there are times that people say negative things about you but you find a way to let it go. But this one got me good. This one got me at my core.” Aliu said in the video. “I’ve seen Steve talk negatively about me for some time now and the funny thing is I’ve never spoken to him or met him in my life… people like Steve are what’s wrong with society.”

“You’re a racist and you’re an arrogant, and you have zero credibility and respect from even your own peers in the media space and athletes alike,” Aliu added. “And if the Toronto Sun had any integrity whatsoever, you will never write another column again.”

Neither the Toronto Sun nor the Toronto Maple Leafs have yet to comment publicly on the story.