The 26-year-old made his NHL debut on Dec. 2 at Montreal, logging 13:10 total time on ice. He was the first Sharks defenseman to make his NHL debut and be a plus-1 rating or better since Mirco Mueller on Dec. 8, 2014 against the Los Angeles Kings, and the ninth San Jose defenseman in franchise history to ever do so. Simek was a just one of three defensemen to be a plus-player in each of his first two career NHL games as a member of the Sharks.
He recorded his first career NHL point with an assist on Dec. 5 vs. Carolina. His first goal came only a week later on Dec. 12 vs. New Jersey. Simek and Lukas Radil became the ninth set of teammates in NHL history to score their first career goals and have them stand as the game-winning goal, in consecutive games (12/8-12/10).
Simek earned his first career point streak (one goal, one assist) from Dec. 10 to Dec. 13. He also logged his first career multi-assist game Dec. 18 at Minnesota.
The five-foot-eleven, 200-pound native of Benatky nad Jizerou, Czech Republic was undrafted, and signed by the Sharks as a free agent in May of 2017.
PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD:
2017-18 Joakim Ryan
2016-17 Kevin Labanc
2015-16 Joonas Donskoi
2014-15 Melker Karlsson
2013-14 Matt Nieto & Tomas Hertl
2012-13 Matt Irwin
2011-12 Andrew Desjardins
2010-11 Logan Couture
2009-10 Jason Demers
2008-09 Tomas Plihal
2007-08 Torrey Mitchell
2006-07 Marc-Edouard Vlasic
2005-06 Milan Michalek
2003-04 Tom Preissing
2002-03 Jim Fahey
2001-02 Matt Bradley
2000-01 Evgeni Nabokov
1999-00 Brad Stuart
1998-99 Alexander Korolyuk
1997-98 Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Andrei Zyuzin
1996-97 Stephen Guolla
1995-96 Marcus Ragnarsson
1994-95 Jeff Friesen
