Washington Capitals' Jason Chimera signs with Czech Republic's HC Chomutov -NHL Update
The Washington Capitals have faced their seventh casualty due to the limitless lockout in the National Hockey League (NHL) as veteran left winger, Jason Chimera, became the latest to sign on with a foreign team in order to continue playing during the work
stoppage.
Chimera, a 33-year-old native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has signed on with the HC Chomutov of the Czech Republic Extraliga and according to latest reports, the deal with the foreign club will allow him to return once the lockout in North America comes
to an end.
Prior to signing, Chimera was against the idea of leaving the NHL and playing abroad in order to be actively part of the labour negotiations between the league, team owners and Players’ Association. Now that he sees that there is a dead end between the stakeholders
and another deadlock has come around, losing hope was something he could not control on his end.
“There have been some other offers that have come his way, but I don’t think he was ready to go earlier. He wanted to stay with his family and see how the negotiations were going,” Chimera’s agent, Allan Walsh said in a phone interview to the Washington
Post. “Now he’s not really caring how the negotiations are going, he wanted to get into games and he found a good spot. Whether he’s over there for a week, two weeks or the rest of the year he’s in good shape.”
Another advantage to his move would be allowing Chimera to stay sharp and practice before having to play again all of a sudden if a deal is signed sooner than later. The training camp will last just about a week before a regular season would kick off.
Jason Chimera was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers as the 121st overall during round-five of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He played his first game with Edmonton during 2000-2001 and is now a 11 season veteran with experience with teams such as the
Oilers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals.
In a total of 663 games played up until now, the veteran forward boasts 254 points (118 goals, 136 assists) and 658 minutes of penalty time in total.
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