To Simon, too, fighting is an essential part of the game, and one that’s not altogether uncivilized. “Professional protectors subscribe to a code of honor. It’s almost like a fraternity,” he explains. “We’ll fight, but there’s an immense amount of respect for what goes into this job. We’re proud of what we do.” Some of the code’s guiding principles? For one, if an opponent falls to the ice during a fight, you never pounce on him. “To hit someone when he’s down just ain’t right,” Simon says. Second, the goal is never to inflict injury. “I know how precious this career is,” he notes. Third—no grudges allowed. “I see Georges [Laraque] all the time in the hallway when we play Pittsburgh,” Simon says, “and it’s nothing but pleasant.”

It all sounds pretty cheery for a guy who was suspended four times before the Hollweg incident for violent on-ice acts and banned for three games when, during a 1997 altercation, he threw a racial slur at Edmonton’s Mike Grier, an African-American. (Simon, a Native American, profusely apologized and was forgiven by Grier.) It’s not surprising that, when he used his stick to try to snap Hollweg’s head, something among NHL officials snapped, too. With six minutes remaining in a 1-1 tie, Simon was slammed from behind by Hollweg, a 5'11", 210-pound center known, like Simon, for his bruising ways. Simon’s head and body ricocheted off the boards and onto the ice, where he momentarily rested in a fetal position. Upon rising, Simon spotted Hollweg, whipped back his stick and flattened his rival, who dropped like a sack of coal. When Simon later explained himself by saying he’d suffered a concussion and was acting in confused self-defense, he was greeted with disdain and disbelief.

“People see what they want to see,” says Simon, who admits he was stung by the aftermath. “But I’m more than a fighter.” Truth be told, he is a skilled forward who won a Stanley Cup with the 1995–96 Colorado Avalanche and has scored 144 career goals, including a team-leading 29 for the 1999–2000 Caps. “It gets lost in his rep, but Chris can downright play,” says Laraque. “You don’t have as many points as he does by accident.”

To Hell and Back

Simon’s path to hockey fame was a rough one. Born and raised in Wawa, an Ontario mining town with a population of 3,700, Chris is the only son of John Simon, an Ojibwa, and Linda, a Caucasian Canadian. His childhood was spent hunting, fishing, and playing hockey. At age 16 he was drafted by a Junior A team in Ottawa, for whom he scored with his stick (36 goals in 57 games) and his fists. He was selected by Philadelphia in the second round of the 1990 draft, a rugged forward who the team believed could be an NHL star for a decade. There was just one problem—Chris Simon loved to drink.

As with too many Ojibwas, alcoholism ran in Simon’s family. But instead of warning signs, Simon saw only postgame parties and wild nights. “I was out of control,” he says. “But I didn’t really know it. I had a real case of denial.” Although his rights were owned by the Flyers, in 1991 he was traded within the OHL from Ottawa to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. At the time his reputation wasn’t especially good. “Chris had an air about him that he was better than us, but he was drinking himself out of hockey,” says Rick Kowalsky, then captain of the Greyhounds.

For Simon the turning point came on New Year’s Eve in 1991, when he was arrested for pulling a fire alarm during a team party in a hotel ballroom. He spent the night in a holding cell, alone, wondering what he was doing with his life. “That was really the moment,” Simon says. “I hadn’t done anything illegal in that instance [the charges were later dropped], but I knew I was putting myself in bad situations.”

It’s now been 16 years since Simon last tasted alcohol (“The toughest test came during the Stanley Cup celebration; everyone’s pouring champagne and I’m drinking Pepsi from a Dixie cup”), and, not accidentally, almost 16 years since his star truly began to rise. On June 30, 1992, he was part of one of the biggest trades in NHL history, going to Quebec along with five other players and two draft picks in exchange for Eric Lindros. At the time, Simon was just the player to be named later. Now, in 2008, he is the last participant standing; Lindros recently retired, as did Peter Forsberg.

As the league continues to transition to a new style of play, perhaps Simon’s greatest legacy will be in teaching its young guns right from wrong on the ice. Case in point: a November 3rd game against the Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum. In the second period, Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh’s 20-year-old superstar, inadvertently nailed DiPietro in the head with the butt of his stick, sending the Isles’ goaltender to the ice and, moments later, the locker room. Soon after, Simon entered the game. As Crosby chased the puck into a corner late in the third period, Simon saw his chance. Elbows up, head down, he charged toward Crosby—yet when he reached his mark, Simon pulled up. He shoved the kid with his left hand and glided away.

So where’s the lesson? “You have to be physical, but you also have to be smart—even us tough guys,” Simon said afterward. “I could have hit Crosby really hard and maybe even hurt him, but instead I just finished my check and let him know I was there. In a close game you can’t take penalties without thought.” He paused, chewing on a wad of tobacco. “Not that I wouldn’t have enjoyed hitting the kid,” he said with a laugh.