A SPENT ENFORCER
FORMER NHL TOUGH GUY IS BROKE AND HOPING TO GET CHILD SUPPORT DEBT FORGIVEN
Former NHL enforcer Chris Simon has filed for bankruptcy, alleging he owes more than $500,000 and is now surviving on government social assistance and disability cheques.
The debts of the former NHL player, who collected more than US$15 million in salary over a 20-year career, include more than three years of missed child support payments totalling $128,875 after his hockey career ended due to a knee injury, according to documents filed with the Ottawa family court.
Simon has asked the court to forgive the child support debt, claiming he hasn’t had any significant income for years and is now unable to work because of injuries suffered during his playing career.
He has symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which he said are “thought to be attributable to significant brain trauma during his hockey career.”
A doctor reported that Simon — who was in more than 100 NHL fights, racked up 1,824 penalty minutes and received two of the longest suspensions ever handed out in the history of the NHL — also suffers from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and arthritis to his shoulder, hand, knees, back and neck.
Just days before filing the documents in Ottawa court, Simon was among a group of players who joined a proposed class-action lawsuit against the NHL seeking millions in damages from the league over its handling of concussions.
“I have no ability to pay the alleged arrears or enter into any form of payment agreement,” Simon wrote in an affidavit filed with the family court office in Ottawa on May 15. “My financial situation is bleak.”
Simon, through his lawyer, declined to comment.
According to his affidavit, the 45-year-old has signed over power of attorney to his mother. He started receiving $966 a month in social assistance in January and his first disability payment was $1,441 in April. He hasn’t worked since November 2015. His gross income for all of last year was just $3,836.13, he reported.
There are liens on his heavily mortgaged former home by the Family Responsibility Office and even his $69 HST cheque is being garnished by the government, according to his court filing.
Simon owns a 6,000 squarefoot cottage in Wawa, Ont., a 2014 Ford F-150 truck, two boats and trailers, a 1997 ATV and a 2011 GMC Yukon, which his second wife is using, the documents said.
But the cottage is in foreclosure because he owes the bank nearly as much as the $300,000 he hoped to sell it for. The proceeds of the sale from the cottage, cars, boats and ATV will all be lost in bankruptcy. The Royal Bank launched a civil suit against him in March, according to his court filing.
Simon once ran a hockey school, but that, too, is now insolvent. His other debts include $25,000 to a book publishing company for an advance on a book that was never written, about $30,000 in back taxes and $1,444 for his cellphone. His joint bank account was in overdraft by $11,349 and he still owes tens of thousands for both property taxes and water and sewer to Michipicoten Township. He owes $33,189 on a Visa credit card and another $18,673 for a loan to the Superior East Community Futures Development Corp., his documents allege.
Simon reported earning only $27,500 in tax exempt income (he is a member of the Michipicoten First Nation) from the hockey school over a two-year period between 2014 and 2015 before expenses were deducted.
According to the court filing, once all the property and assets are sold, Simon would still owe his creditors $182,625.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Simon won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 but is perhaps better known for his disciplinary trouble.
He received a 30-game suspension in December 2007 for stomping his skate into the foot of Penguins forward Jarkko Ruutu. That followed a 25-game suspension he received in March 2007 for hitting the Rangers’ Ryan Hollweg in the face with his stick.
As a teen, he fought addictions. However, Simon got control of his addiction and counselled First Nations youth on the dangers of alcohol.
He does have access to his NHL pension, although Simon hasn’t begun drawing on it yet — something the Family Responsibility Office argues should prevent him from having the child support debt forgiven.
According to a letter from a lawyer for the Office, Simon would be ineligible to have the debt rescinded since he is choosing not to receive his pension to avoid having it garnished. The Office has sent a notice that it intends to garnish it, although it is being disputed by a Toronto law firm that represents the Board of Trustees of the NHL Players’ Pension Plan.
Simon’s ex-wife, Lauri Lynne Smith, alleges in an affidavit responding to Simon’s claim that the former NHLer also failed to disclose his income for years as part of the court-ordered child support agreement.
She agreed to accept less child support on an interim basis of $3,000 a month in 2010 when Simon’s NHL career ended and he moved to Russia to play in the KHL, the affidavit alleges. However, she alleges Simon was not honest about his earnings, which she alleges were close to $700,000 a year in Russia.
She also alleged he avoided paying thousands more in monthly child support payments when he failed to disclose a significant increase in his income, which jumped to $2,225,000 between the 1999-2000 and 20022003 seasons. Up until he left for the KHL, Simon had been paying $9,215 a month in child support, the affidavits said.
Simon has since separated from his second wife, with whom he has four more children. His son from that marriage lives with him in Wawa, while his three daughters live with their mother in the U.S., according to the court documents.
Simon argued in his affidavit that his eldest son was 19 and in his first year of university when he stopped making child support payments in December 2013. According to Simon, the Michipicoten First Nation Reserve provided his son with about $49,000 between September 2013 and May 2016 to cover tuition and a living allowance.
His ex-wife argues she has had to pay for her son’s first year of university and the band only helped pay school expenses after she applied when he stopped paying child support. She declined to comment.
I HAVE NO ABILITY TO PAY THE ALLEGED ARREARS OR ENTER INTO ANY FORM OF PAYMENT AGREEMENT. MY FINANCIAL SITUATION IS BLEAK. — CHRIS SIMON