McCaffery

the New Jersey Devils’ team bus to their dressing room. But for everything that was, and for everything he believed in, and for everything he wanted to soak in one more time, it would take him substantially longer.

Along the way, there would be friends to greet and hands to shake and a Flyers locker room, its door closed, to walk past without trying too obviously to take a nostalgic glance. Eventually, the former Flyer would check into the visitors’ room and, moments later, emerge in Devils swag.

“I like red and black,” he said, running his fingers across the logo on his new sweatshirt. “I don’t mind it at all.” That’s what he said. At the moment, that’s what he meant.

And for the rest of the night, that’s how he would behave, starting on the right wing for New Jersey in the Flyers’ North American home opener and playing with his usual jump. He even found his way into the slot and open for what would be a tipped pass on his first shift. Still, he would wonder: Why did it have to be that way?

“I don’t know how to say it, if they didn’t want me or whatever it was,’’ Simmonds said. “It was what it was. To be honest with you, I think I was a little bit bitter. I put so much time, sweat and tears into this organization. I thought I did everything I possibly could to deserve at least a little bit of an extension.

“It is a business, at the same time.’’

The end of Simmonds’ Flyers career was not, in itself, a tragic tale. The Flyers were slumping, and they had been for long enough. They were ready to begin to off-load veterans, and the Nashville Predators were willing to send them Ryan Hartman and a conditional fourthround draft choice for his services and expiring contract. A free-agent-to-be at season’s end, the Flyers, or any other team, could have made him an offer. The Flyers passed. The Devils took a chance. And, because it’s just the way it so often happens in sports, there was Simmonds being honored with a tribute during the game’s first stoppage on the new blueline-to-blue-line video screen.

“I walked in a different entrance,” Simmonds said. “I walked in and didn’t know whether to go left or right. I haven’t played on this side of this building in eight years. It’s a little bit different, but at the same time it is what it is.”

The fan reaction was long, loud and real. Simmonds’ response, which was to wave and turn around on the bench to face the crowd and applaud them, too, was perfect.

On that night, he was a Devil.

But the Flyers, and their fans, never forget those players who most understood the whole fan-franchise compact.

“I think they just want someone to come to the rink and put an honest effort in every single night,” Simmonds said. “Somebody that’s going to battle through and through no matter what happens, whether you’re up, whether you’re down. I think that’s why I got the love of the fans here. I came to the rink every day, handled my business in a professional manner.

“Luckily enough I got adopted by the fans. It was nice.”

Simmonds played most of seven seasons for the Flyers, collecting 203 goals, 175 assists, several hundred stitches and several million fans. He once played much of a season after having most of his teeth pulled in a small emergency, yet never let the discomfort show when it was time to drill an opponent.

For all of that, he figured he would enjoy an offer, no matter how age-appropriate, to return this season. But things are different around the Wells Fargo Center, particularly at the executive level. So, there he was Wednesday, trying to show the Flyers what they would have missed.

“I clearly wasn’t the piece of the puzzle they wanted to be here,” he said. “So why would I want to come back? It has nothing to do with the fan base or anything like that. It’s just the way things are. You have to put things in the rear-view mirror. You know. Keep it moving.’’

Simmonds is on a oneyear, $5 million agreement to play a couple of New Jersey counties north of Voorhees. When it expires, he will be an unrestricted free agent at the age of 32. And Flyers rarely have let their most popular players stray too far for too long.

“When I first came here, I was just trying to prove myself as a good hockey player,” Simmonds said. “I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams that the fans would take to me like they did. Obviously it’s an honor. And it’s nice to have played here.”

That much, he learned early.

That much, he never did forget. Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery