Phantom Profile: Simon Pinard

Simon Pinard was born on May 26, 2001, in Drummondville, Quebec. He stands at 5’11 and weighs 179 lbs. He is a professional left-wing forward who shoots left-handed. Although he is still a very young player at 22, he has already had such a great start to his professional career. From the 2018-19 season to the 2021-22 season, he was in the QMJHL playing for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Sometime in the 2021-22 season, he moved within the QMJHL to the Gatineau Olympiques. Next, he spent a season with the University of New Brunswick. Having only played in Canada his whole life, this 2023-24 season is his first in America, and he’s starting it out with the South’s Savannah Ghost Pirates.

With the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, he played 177 total games, scored 77 goals, and added 67 assists while adding 76 PIMs, and his overall plus/minus score was three. He went to the playoffs with the Armada twice, doing so during the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons. Simon played in 14 postseason games, scored six goals, and added four assists. He played in the QMJHL for a while, and his ability to develop over that time really paved the way for where he is in his career now. In the 2021-22 season, he moved within the league to the Gatineau Olympiques. He played 37 games with them, scored 25 goals, assisted 26 goals, while tallying up 14 minutes in penalties. He was also able to go with them to the playoffs that year, playing seven games, only scoring a goal and adding two assists. With Pinard spending as much time as he did in the league, he had time to adapt to this level of competition and difficulty while also being able to work on his skill set. This brief amount of consistency proved a nice break, as his next season was spent in USports at the University of New Brunswick. Although it was a lot to adjust to, he made do and played incredibly well.

As he had moved onto the next step in his career, he had spent the most recent season with the University of New Brunswick. He played 29 games, scored 19 goals, 10 assists, and got 34 PIM. He was really able to grow and develop playing in college as he helped his team go to playoffs, playing seven games, scoring five goals, and assisting seven.

Just looking at the differences in his postseason playing, it can really be seen how much his presence on the ice improved as he was scoring more points as each playoff season came and went. This season, he has started off with the Savannah Ghost Pirates. Playing in all seven games for the Ghost Pirates so far, he has scored twice, with one being on the power play. He also got an assist, took 10 shots on goal, and received four penalty minutes so far. So far, he is averaging 0.50 points per game, as well as 0.67 PIM per game. We will likely continue to see more greatness from Pinard in Savannah as the season continues. It is written in stone that his skill will keep developing as he spends more time in higher professional leagues.