Joining the Remparts last year, where it all began for this former NHL star, Simon Gagné feels like he’s come full circle and has a chance to make his career meaningful.
Simon Gagné retired from professional hockey nearly eight years ago after a successful career with the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins.
He was then appointed assistant manager and assistant general manager of the Remparts in July 2022. He is believed to be the one who will replace Patrick Roy at the helm of the team if the latter announces his departure.
For Simon Gagné, this new job for almost a year has been a great opportunity to give something back.
“Really, this is where I started to believe in the National League,” says the hockey player. Yes, minor hockey was fine before that, but the NHL was a dream I didn’t think was possible. I really felt it with the Quebec Remparts, so it’s fun to come back here and that it’s a little bit the same world. »
determination
By the time he was 16, Simon Gagné feared rumors of a move from Harfangs de Beauport, where he was playing, to Lewiston, Maine.
“I remember like it was yesterday,” he says. Being drafted into Quebec by the Harfangs was super lucky, but there we were talking about Lewiston less than a year later. »
Until a group of business people who wanted to keep the Quebec team got in touch. Jacques Tanguay, Patrick Roy and Michel Cadrin had acquired what would become the Remparts de Québec.
Years later, it was again Jacques Tanguay and Patrick Roy who changed his fortunes by recruiting him in his current role.
It must be said that Simon Gagné put on his skates almost at the same time as he learned to walk, just before he was two years old.
“It started in the house, in the basement, where luckily there was plenty of carpet, I put on my Nordiques vest with skates. »
His father, his best friend
His father, Pierre, a Sainte-Foy police officer who had developed as an American League hockey player, believed this would help his son strengthen his ankles while he waited to hit the rink in the winter.
“My father first built a small ice rink in the gallery, then it became a large ice rink in the yard,” he remembers.
Simon Gagné often spoke of this father, who was his best friend and whom he misses very much. He left too early, at 68, plagued by an illness.
During a lengthy conversation with him shortly before his death on December 26, 2014, he decided to retire from the NHL.
“My father was there from the beginning to the end of my hockey career, I couldn’t imagine going on without him. We made the decision together. »
Simon Gagné has never regretted his departure. What he missed most was the camaraderie with the other players, which he’s rediscovering in a league he started in Quebec with other retired players.
The hockey player and his wife Karine have three children. His son Matthew, who will soon be 14, is developing at his own pace and at his will in Bantam AAA, says the one who is careful not to put pressure on him. He was his coach for several years and attends as many games as possible.
Crisis in hockey
Simon Gagné was surprised and saddened by the numerous allegations of aggression and violence in ice hockey that have been widespread in recent months.
“I was lucky I didn’t experience that, I didn’t do it live either, it might have been borderline at times but we never crossed the line and he never experienced sexual assault. »
He also thinks it’s a shame that hockey’s image is being tarnished in this way if “that’s not happening right now, he assures us. We spoke to our players to find out how they do the initiations and how they don’t. »
Back to the Remparts and the following things: Simon Gagné plans to sit down with MM. Roy and Tanguay at the end of “this beautiful year that is not over yet” to discuss it.
“It’s going well, I’m enjoying it so far, I’m going day by day, I’m moving further in this plan without looking forward too much,” he said.
He’s flattered to know his peers see him as his successor, but he lives in the present moment, true to his form, which has served him very well so far.
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