Wayne Simmonds has been with the Flyers since 2011, a career in orange and black that spans three coaches and numerous systems.

As training camp winds down, he isn’t spending his time studying a playbook. So much of his time is spent carefully choosing his words on what has become the most divisive topic in the United States and beyond.

Simmonds is one of 27 black players who suited up in the NHL last season. As the news cycle is dominated by how many athletes kneel or sit during the “Star-Spangled Banner,” Simmonds wants to bring the conversation back to why so many are taking a knee to begin with.

“It’s extremely hard to talk about because politics come into play now,” Simmonds, an alternate captain of the Flyers and the NHL’s reigning All-Star Game MVP, told the Courier-Post. “It’s crazy to me. I’m black and I grew up in Canada. I’ve experienced a lot of racism in my lifetime, especially playing hockey. I’ve had numerous amounts of things happen to me when I was a child through being an adult.

“Obviously this touches home for me. If I play another six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years in the NHL, which I plan to do, I’m gonna be raising my kids in this country. It’s a scary thought to think that because my child is black, they could be walking down the street and they’ll be harassed or killed or something just for being black. That’s an extremely scary thought.”

The problem of racism for Simmonds, like so many others, isn’t limited to America.

It was in London, Ontario, a two-and-a-half-hour car ride from Simmonds’ hometown of Scarborough, that a fan threw a banana on the ice as Simmonds took his turn in a shootout in a 2011 preseason game.

It was in the Czech Republic during the lockout in 2012 that fans in the town of Chomutov chanted “opice,” which in English translates to “monkey” at Simmonds.

And that’s just since he joined the Flyers.

So when Joel Ward of the San Jose Sharks, who also hails from Scarborough, told the San Jose Mercury News that he may kneel for the anthem when the Sharks open their season against the Flyers on Oct. 4, Simmonds knew he had to speak up also, but not about the topic du jour.

“The whole thing is why is that even happening in 2017? That’s the conversation that was supposed to be started,” Simmonds said. “Instead of that being talked about, the only thing that’s being talked about is the whole political aspect of it, the kneeling, being disrespectful to the flag, when that wasn’t the purpose of what (former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin) Kaepernick even did. The purpose of what he did was to jumpstart this conversation as to why all these things are still happening in the world.”

Tensions have risen nationwide this week after President Donald Trump, at a rally in Alabama, asked members of the crowd if they would “love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired?’”

More than 200 NFL players took a knee this weekend and a handful of owners, most notably Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, joined players on the sideline in plain sight of cameras.

What has been called into question is whether the show of unity was against Trump’s comments toward the NFL or toward the initial issue.

“It’s a shame that everyone’s being led to think it’s happening for a different reason than it is,” Simmonds said. “It doesn’t help with the president saying what he said. Donald Trump definitely poured fuel on the fire. It’s definitely dividing this country. He’s doing more bad than he’s doing good.”

While the message about systemic racism has been muddled by talk of whether the flag, U.S. military or both were taken in vain, the answer to the greater question doesn’t have a clear-cut answer yet.

How does the world move the issue of racism in the proper direction?

“I don’t know what it’s gonna take because clearly (there have) been protests everywhere,” Simmonds said. “For all the people who have been treated wrong just because they were black, there have been peaceful protests and there have been awful protests, but I think for the most part this one’s been a great peaceful protest.”

Simmonds joined Ward in saying he hasn’t made any decisions about kneeling for the national anthem on Oct. 4. The Flyers also have two preseason games left on their schedule.

“It’s not (about) whether me and Joel Ward are going to kneel,” Simmonds said. “Me and Joel Ward are going to speak about this topic because it’s near and dear to our heart because this is how we feel, what we feel. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to kneel.

“People don’t want to speak about the tough situations. Everyone wants something easy, a bailout. That’s what they’re bailing out on is the national anthem protest and going crazy over it.”

Dave Isaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com