(Photo: Clyde Caplan, Clydeorama.com)

At an age when many forwards have long since retired, Jason Chimera, the Washington Capitals 36-year-old, third line left-wing, has come out of the gates swinging in the 2015-2016 season. He has already achieved 14 points during his 22 games this year racking up a career high of six points on the power play, back-to-back points for assists on power plays against the Lightning and the Maple Leafs and his second consecutive multipoint game.

Chimera, especially when paired with Evengy Kuznetsov is a formidable union enhancing the Capitals prowess with power play goals. With these successes, Chimera is on track to hit the 50-point mark during the regular season that will likely mean that he is one the Capitals top five contributors to the team for goals and assists.

(Photo: DCMolson)

Chimera, long known for his fast skating, hard charging style was definitely missing a step in the 2014-2015 season and it showed in his disappointing statistics. Long known as one of the NHL’s fastest men, it was difficult to say if he was simply having an off-year, a difficult time adjusting to new coach Barry Trotz’s leadership style, continuing to demonstrate an inconsistent play style or some combination of the three – regardless, Chimera was definitely off his game and it showed.

In 2014, Chimera achieved only 19 points comprised of 7 goals and 12 assists in his 77 games played earning him the team abysmal points ranking of 15th on the Capitals roster. His tenure was marked by a 13 game goal scoring drought and serving time in the press box as a healthy scratch for causing a late game penalty. Yes, it was definitely a long season for Chimera but, fortunately, he made a 180-degree turnaround in the playoffs earning seven points that catapulted him from 15th to fifth on the Capitals roster according to points.

At the onset of the 2016 season it was unclear if his meteoric rise in prowess was a fluke or symptomatic of Chimera’s inability to sustain high performance play. Regardless, at the season’s quarter Chimera makes things happen on the ice. He is a playmaker on the power play and a key contributor to the Capitals early successes.

By Stephanie Judge