Season Player Review: Simon Despres

Photo: AP Photo/Christine Cotter

By: Matthew Garcia

The beginning of the 2015-2016 NHL regular season was a rough one for the Anaheim Ducks, but only got worse for defenseman Simon Despres as he was sidelined very quick into the Ducks’ campaign. On October 16th, just 4 games into the regular season Despres was hit by a leaping Tyson Barrie of the Colorado Avalanche and was shaken up pretty badly as he made his way back to the bench. To this point in the regular season Simon Despres had 0 Goals, 0 Assists, a -4 rating, and had just 67:46 of TOI(Time On Ice). Despres never returned to the Colorado game and on October 17th he was officially placed on IR due to a concussion.

See the Barrie hit here:

On January 14, 2016 Simon Despres was sent down to the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League for a conditioning stint. During his 4 games playing in San Diego, Despres recorded 2 Points(1 Goal + 1 Assist) and was also a -4 during the time with the Gulls. On January 26th after a 42 game absence Despres re-joined Anaheim as they were taking on the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. In his return Despres was a +1 and recorded 20:37 of ice time.

On March 24, 2016 Despres was sent home for evaluation missing the game in Toronto that night, he was listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Despres missed a total of 5 games due to injury (Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver) before coming back to wrap up the remaining 5 games of the regular season. Overall The 2015-2016 season was not the kindest one for Ducks defenseman Despres as he did not score and recorded just 4 assists while also posting a +2 on the year. However, it is important to note that he did only play in 32 games due to his injuries.

If Despres can stay healthy next season, then hopefully he can bounce back. He did record 23 points in the 2014-15 season, which was his first full year playing in the NHL.

To read other player reviews visit: Ducks Season Player Reviews

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