Chimera extended 4 years -- YIKES!

Puck-rakers just posted that Jason Chimera has been extended for four years. No money terms give yet but I will guess that it will be 4 years at 8 million - 2 mil per.

Chimera is a 28 year old 6-2 206 pound winger who can skate like the wind. Here is what TSN.ca has to say about him:

Assets
Has blinding speed and good size. Excels at the forechecking game, as well as penalty-killing situations. Can score goals in bunches.

Flaws
Lacks consistency on offense, so he must perfect his niche as a role player in order to enjoy a lengthy NHL career.

Career potential
Checking line winger.

TSN pretty much nails it as they usually do.

Columbus acquired "Chimmer" in October 8th, 2005 in a trade that sent Geoff Sanderson and Tim Jackman to the Phoenix Coyotes for Jason Chimera, Cale Hulse and Mike Rupp. Chimera is the only player left on either team from this deal.

In 4 full NHL seasons, 2 with the Oliers and 2 with the CBJ, Chimera notched his best year last year scoring 15g, 21a for 36 points. He also finished a +2. This year he is on pace for 13g, 21a for 34 points and a -9.

I know Hitch likes this guy by some of his comments and its obvious by this signing that Howson does as well.

My reaction? Quite frankly I'm surprised by this deal. I really did not think Chimera was in the long term plans for this franchise. I haven't been overly impressed with Chimera this season and although he's started to score of late (he's got 4g in last 12g which isn't great by any means but better than what we were getting) I have not been impressed with his consistancy, physical play or scoring for that matter.

I don't really like the length of the deal but he would have gotten that if he became a UFA after the season. The question now is how much is the deal worth and once we find that out could we have found a similar 3rd line player on the open market this summer on cheaper terms? That will ultimately make

The upside is that Chimera is only 28, he's just now reaching his prime. When the deal expires he'll be 32. He's a veteran now who appears to be a "Hitch guy" and this signing obviously signals the organization has been happy with his play. He also must like playing for Columbus to sign a long term deal with us - that counts for something in my book.

So next year this is how I see the offense shaping up:

Nash XXX Modin

Zherdev Brassard XXX

Chimera XXX Voracek

Boll Novotny XXX

I'd be very surprised to see any more extensions on the offense handed out this season. Fedorov, Peca, Vyborny are definite locks not to be back next season IMO. Malhotra & Fritsche I think will be unlikely. Brule is a big "?" for me. The XXX are either UFAs or guys from Syracuse who make the squad. I think Voracek makes the team out of camp.

Adam Foote is the one guy I think may be resigned before the deadline on defense and possibly Jan Hejda.

This is Scott Howson's first major signing. He now officially has both feet in the water. I've liked all his moves up to this point even though I'm not really high on this one at this point. Chimera has some more upside to make this deal look good though down the road though.

UPDATE: Puck-rakers has reported the deal to be worth 1.85 mil over 4 years. That's 7.4 million over the span of the contract.

I suspect Chimera took a little less per year to get that extra year of term. Money is less than I thought it would be which softens the blow of that term a bit. Still though, the term is little suprising but he would have gotten this on the market, if not more.

Now the Jackets have their 3rd line left wing locked down for 4 more years - I don't see Howson/Hitch thinking Jason will be a staple in the top 6 - he'll be penciled in on the 3rd line for the majority of this deal. He'll also be a leader in that room that Hitchcock can lean on during that tenure.

-LTL