Congratulations are in order for Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Simon Benoit and longtime girlfriend Alice Desaulniers. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs media relations account on X (formerly Twitter) announced that the Laval, Que. native would be absent from practice following the birth of his first child. No further details were given.
“You know what? Pretty good excuse to miss practice,” media company SPDN replied on X.
“The league is not ready for dad-strength Simone Benoit!” said a fan.
“Defence dad strength activated,” added another.
Although the couple have yet to share the news on social media, the baby’s arrival would undoubtedly be the ultimate present for Benoit, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Sept. 19.
Benoit and Desaulniers, who have been together for almost seven years, announced their pregnancy news during playoff season. In April, Desaulniers shared a photo of herself to Instagram showing off her growing baby bump while wearing a Leafs playoff jacket.
“Blooming season x playoffs,” she wrote.
Desaulniers shared photos from her floral-themed baby shower to social media in July.
“Beyond grateful,” the expectant mom captioned the post.
This is Benoit’s second year playing as a defenceman for the Leafs as a free agent. Prior joining the team, he played for the Anaheim Ducks from 2021 to 2023.
In January, Benoit spoke to former teammate Luke Gazdic on his podcast, “Mitts Off with Luke Gazdic,” about being known as one of the guys on the team who “always has a smile on his face.”
“When I grew up my dad and my parents never put pressure on me to play hockey. They said, ‘If you don’t like it, if you want to do something else, that’s fine with us,” Benoit said. “I always played the game because I love it. Now it’s my job, but I always told myself I don’t like what I’m doing, I’ll just do something else. But I love the game too much.”
Benoit also spoke about adjusting to attention from the Leafs fandom.
“I stay away from social media and I try to focus on my game… It’s not that social media is bad… I just try to stay focused,” he said. “If the fans love me, it touches my heart. It’s not everyday that fans love a simple, stay-at-home D-man. If they do love my game, I’m touched by it.”
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