The Capitals announced a contract extension for Jason Chimera on Thursday. According to sources, it’s a two-year deal worth $3.5 million and a salary-cap hit of $1.75 million. The team confirmed that number.
Chimera, acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets during Dec. 28, 2009, scored 10 goals for the Caps in 81 games last season. Also had two goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including a memorable double overtime game-winner against the New York Rangers in Game 4 of that first-round series. Both of his postseason goals were game winners.
“It’s nice. Anytime you’ve got a place where you win hockey games – I’m not a dummy knowing how good this team is, and you want to be here a long time,” Chimera said. “For me it was a no-brainer. It was nice that they showed some confidence in me to come to me and ask me if I wanted something.”
The 32-year-old winger has played in 581 career games with Edmonton, Columbus and Washington. Long known as one of the fastest skaters in the league, Chimera has 98 career goals and 580 penalty minutes. He’s expected to be part of the team’s third line at left wing this season, though at times he has played right wing, including several stints last season on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
“It’s nice to see good guys get rewarded…and the other thing is we believe that we have a group that can win in there,” teammate Brooks Laich said. “We want to win to win with all these guys. We’ve played with these guys for three, four, five – some guys like Mike [Green], seven years – [and] you want to get the job done with these guys. You don’t want to see people moved out of town and potentially miss out on something special.”
What do the Caps like? General manager George McPhee wasn’t not made available to comment. We do know Chimera doesn’t have the greatest hands in the world, but his speed is still an asset even at 32. Bruce Boudreau told reporters he still thinks Chimera can score between 15 and 20 goals in a season, if things break right, though it will be tough to reach that total with limited power-play time and 14 or 15 minutes of ice time per game. Boudreau also likes that he can play on either wing and – in very short bursts – hang on the top two lines. Doesn’t hurt that Chimera rivals Matt Hendricks as one of the loudest voices in the room with a cutting, dry sense of humor.
“Every year you get a chance to win a Stanley Cup. I think that’s a big thing,” Chimera said. “I grew up in Edmonton where you watch these teams stay together and they do good things every year. It’s just one of those teams that you could see yourself being a part of for a long time.
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