Despite playing fewer than 20 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year and facing uncertainty for what’s ahead, Wayne Simmonds' reputation remains unscathed.

Wayne Simmonds will suit up for what will likely be his final home game as a Toronto Maple Leaf on Saturday night, marking just the 18th time this season that the hard-nosed veteran has managed to crack the lineup. 

Everything has changed for Simmonds in 2022-23, from his role as an everyday player to even his basic security on the roster. Even Simmonds' stall in the Maple Leafs' dressing room has shifted, moving from the far-right wall beside Michael Bunting to the far left corner next to Ilya Samsonov depending on which players the club had brought in on that given day. 

Simmonds has been sent to the AHL and called back up at various times throughout the year, placed on waivers and cleared, been healthy scratched for months on end, and then slotted back into a lineup with championship aspirations. 

And yet, amid all that change, one thing has remained constant: His reputation. 

"He still scares the s--t out of people," said Leafs forward Mitch Marner of his veteran teammate. 

"It's nice to have that on your team at all times. And when he speaks in this room, everyone listens." 

That reputation was the stuff of legend not too long ago. 

It's easy to forget, but there was a time when Simmonds was arguably the NHL's premier power forward – a player capable of striking fear into the hearts of opponents with his ferocious physicality complemented by legitimate top-six offensive production. 

The numbers speak for themselves. Between 2013 and 2018, Simmonds racked up goal totals of 29, 28, 32, 31 and 24 while finishing with over 100 penalty minutes in three of those five seasons. He was a menace, a matchup headache that could goad and prod teams into self-inflicted errors that he would then capitalize on. Few players at that time across the league could do that. Simmonds was one of them. 

But nothing lasts forever. Injuries, as they tend to do, ruined everything.

As Simmonds' health declined, so did his play, which caused him to bounce from Philadelphia to Nashville to New Jersey to Buffalo before dropping him into the uncertainty of free agency in 2020-21. The one-year, show-me deal he signed with his hometown Leafs that off-season – which began in October thanks to COVID-19 – offered Simmonds a chance for rebirth. And, in the early going, that's more or less what he did. 

Throughout the initial portion of the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign, Simmonds was electric for the Maple Leafs, playing up and down the lineup, chipping in offensively and taking advantage of the healthiest his body had been in years by throwing it around without abandon. 

He was a step slower than his prime, of course. But the 2021 version of Simmonds showed glimpses, brief as they were, of the coveted asset that turned heads in all NHL circles. His revival was a smile-inducing narrative amongst a team that, at that time, really needed one. 

"Any time you get to lace up your skates in the NHL, it's amazing." - Wayne Simmonds 

And then, injuries ruined everything again. 

Simmonds was never the same after the broken wrist that shelved him for roughly two months of that season. His return kickstarted a path down the lineup that culminated in Simmonds watching from the press box as a healthy scratch as his teammates bowed to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round series 11 months ago. 

When the Maple Leafs spent their summer signing, trading for, and promoting a crop of bottom-six forwards to fill the role Simmonds once claimed as his own, the writing was on the wall. 

When Kyle Dubas sent an email to all 31 other GMs ahead of opening night that Simmonds was available for trade and that getting a fair return was not his first priority, that writing was traced over in Sharpie. 

Against all odds, though, Simmonds stuck with the Leafs. It wasn't without frustration, as both sides tried to compromise on a new reality that really wasn't ideal for either of them, but they made it work. Simmonds survived major roster upheaval and remained a beloved presence within the closest-knit Leafs' locker room in years. 

But there is a sense of finality lingering over Simmonds ahead of his final twirl on hometown ice – not just with the Leafs, but as an NHLer on the whole. 

Despite taking up a manageable $900,000 in cap space, Simmonds still cleared waivers multiple times this season, with every team passing on acquiring his services for the cost of nothing but pro-rated money. This could be it for the Scarborough, Ont., native. And if it is, Simmonds is determined to enjoy the ride until it stops. 

"It's still special," said Simmonds of stepping onto a big-league rink. 

"Any time you get to lace up your skates in the NHL, it's amazing." 

"It can't be easy, with what he's accomplished and what he's been through throughout his career," added Leafs captain John Tavares of Simmonds' adjustment to his new role this season. 

"But we tip our cap, and, obviously, really appreciate him because of the role that he's accepted. How he's handled himself and carried himself on a daily basis has been phenomenal. So, as I said, we're really lucky to have him as a teammate of ours in many facets."

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was adamant on Saturday that Simmonds is still a part of the team and that his club's matchup with the Montreal Canadiens that night was business as usual. And, perhaps that's true. If an injury epidemic ravages Toronto's forward corps, Simmonds could potentially draw into the lineup. But with a farm system of hungry youngsters just down the street and the arrival of prized prospect Matthew Knies mere days away, it would take divine circumstances for that to happen. 

This is likely the end of the line for a player who conquered the odds just to reach the start of it. And if that is ultimately the case, here's hoping the home crowd gives him a worthy ovation.