Nazem Kadri latest NHLer to call out Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons (VIDEO)
Calgary Flames forward Nazem Kadri is the latest athlete to call out Toronto Sun writer Steve Simmons for his comments made in a recent article about former NHL player Akim Aliu.
Aliu, who is Black, played seven NHL games in his career.
Aliu has spoken widely about the overt and covert discrimination he experienced throughout varying levels of his hockey career, though Simmons doesn’t quite seem to believe in that.
“No one wants to say this because of the politically correct police and all, but those who coached Akim Aliu must cringe every time they see him in a news report or a commercial talking about what’s wrong with hockey. Like he would know. By my count, Aliu played for 23 teams in nine different leagues in 12 professional seasons and rarely finished any season with the same team he started with. If that was colour-related, how is it that Wayne Simmonds spent just about the same 12 seasons playing in the NHL?” Simmons wrote in a column on Sunday.
After Aliu and Simmonds both replied to Simmons’ article, Kadri addressed the comments on Monday.
“It’s unfortunate when a guy like that tries to discredit somebody and, you know, act like they’ve been there and know [about racism in hockey], which obviously isn’t the case. He’d be the last guy to know anything about that,” Kadri said on Monday. “He’s always been a writer that’s kind of been on the line and created a lot of controversy so people can read his articles. So for us, you know, you’ve just got to brush it aside and continue to do the great things we’ve done.”
Simmons is the longest-serving member of the Toronto chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers’ Association, having covered the Leafs since 1980, including Kadri’s nine-year stint in Toronto.
Kadri, Simmonds, and Aliu are all founding members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA), founded in 2020 to fight racism in hockey.
“At the end of the day, we’re all doing this for the right reasons,” Kadri added. “[Simmons] is just a guy that’s a little dated in his writing.”
Asked about what the HDA group chat would look like, Kadri replied that Simmons was a topic of discussion.
“He definitely wouldn’t want to see it, that’s for sure. I think, like I’ve said, this kind of stuff we obviously are too familiar with,” Kadri said. “Strength in numbers.”
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