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NHL ALL-STAR GAME

January 29, 2017

Wayne Simmonds

Los Angeles, California

Metropolitan - 4, Pacific - 3

Q. Was today the loudest applause that you've ever received in Staples?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: I don't know. It was pretty loud, though. I was pretty impressed, and everyone still remembers me here, so definitely grateful for that. It was awesome.

Q. What was it like having Gretzky on the ice today and knowing what he has meant to this game?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Yeah, it's pretty special. Obviously I think for me anyway, Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player to ever play this game. To get a chance to play for him was an honor. It was just a great situation to be in, and I'm just really happy right now.

Q. I know you were pretty excited to come back here and get the All-Star nod and this is where you started. Take me through your emotions right now, how this all played out for you, getting the game-winning goal, MVP, all of it.
WAYNE SIMMONDS: It's all pretty surreal. I don't even know if I realize what's going on right now. But it's pretty cool, and I'm lucky I have some family members here. My fiancÃ© is here, so I get to enjoy this moment with them. It's been an awesome weekend for me.

Q. You just got engaged, too, right?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Yeah.

Q. How does Wayne Simmons All-Star Game MVP sound?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Weird. They asked me how does being an All-Star sound, and I said weird. It's awesome. It's definitely an honor. There's so many great players in our game today, to be recognized as an All-Star is pretty special to me.

Q. What was it like having both winning teams in the dressing room before the final?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: It was pretty cool. Every guy -- everyone is pretty lighthearted out here. We spent the whole weekend together. You get to pick different times, meeting different guys and having discussions with them. I thought it was awesome to be in the room with both divisions.

Q. When you left LA, you weren't used in the role that you are now in Philly. What do you think happened to kind of change the perception of your game and allowed your career to take off?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: You know, I actually don't know, I just remember Coach Laviolette just putting me net front on the power play from first practice when I got to Philadelphia. From then on out, it was kind of just something that I relished, and I just tried to make the best of my opportunity. We're sitting here right now, so so far, so good.

Q. In the locker room after the game, there was a dollar bill taped to your name tag. Is there any particular story behind that?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: No, none. I don't even know who did that to be honest with you. I'm trying to figure it out still. I'm still trying to figure it out. It says enjoy the money on it. I have no clue who it was. But I'll take it. That will be my lucky dollar bill now. I'll throw that in my pocket.

Q. On the game-winning goal you went right past Drew, and I know it was one of those things you were hoping he was --
WAYNE SIMMONDS: It's pretty funny because I stuck my stick behind his helmet and kind of flicked it up, so possibly he was trying to fix it, so I don't know, I just took off -- Hallsy went forward with it and I just took off. I said to Hallsy before the game, I'm going to drive back door with one of these plays, and about a foot from the net, I was like, just hit me with the puck and hopefully I can put it in. It was funny because it was exactly what we spoke about.

Q. Just to follow up a little bit earlier, if you could just go a little bit more, it's been years removed from LA; were you at all surprised that you got the amount of positive reaction that you did from fans?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Yeah, for sure.

Q. What did that mean to you?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: You know, it meant a lot. I haven't been here for six years. I got traded when I was still 22 years old, when I got traded. I'm 28 now. I've been in Philadelphia for the last six years. When you leave a place, you don't expect to come back and get all the cheers as I did today, but I must have did something right when I was here. I know I had a lot of die-hard fans here, and I really appreciate those people. I just appreciate everything. It made me feel good today.

Q. Physicality is a big component of your game in a normal game. How did you figure out what kind of game you would play here today knowing what an All-Star is like and obviously there's no hitting?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Just don't make yourself look like an idiot, don't dump and chase, just try to keep the puck on your stick, and there was a lot of great players around me, obviously, so it was more thinking I was going to defer to everybody else to be honest with you. But it ended up that I had some big goals. It was great playing with all those guys. There's a lot of great players in the Metro Division, and it was a lot of fun playing with everybody.

Q. I just wanted to kind of get your thoughts on what the weekend meant, diversity in hockey, especially the growing black presence in the league, obviously four black players in the game. Just your thoughts on all that went on in a very short period of time here.
WAYNE SIMMONDS: It was unbelievable. I think if you look around the game now, you're starting to see different ethnicities, not only black, but it's starting to open up a little bit, and that's the goal here. We're trying to spread the game. We're not necessarily trying to change the look of it, but just get different people in it and you get different avenues. Hockey is for everybody, so it's a great sport. I'm just trying to be a good ambassador and stuff like that, so it's great.

Q. What are you going to do with the truck, and are you going to keep the massive decals on it?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: No. I'm taking those decals off for sure. No clue what I'm going to do with it. Maybe somebody -- my mom, dad, brothers or somebody needs a car or something like that. I don't need it. It's a nice luxury to have, but who knows what I do with it. Maybe I donate it, maybe I give it to a family member. But I'm not too sure. I haven't really thought about it.

Q. What do you think of Wayne pulling down a coach's challenge here in the All-Star?
WAYNE SIMMONDS: Helped us win, right? That was the play. That was the game changer. That was the decision. Obviously he's got a great hockey mind. He pulls that card, it's offside, and come back, we score two goals and we win the game, so obviously it was a great decision.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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