Columbus Sends Chimera to Washington

As the scuttlebutt has been all day, the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets finally made a trade.

Some anticipated that it might involve Karl Alzner and Nikita Filatov (to those of you who are sitting at your computer screens snickering…I had the same reaction) while others didn’t speculate and just reported what they knew.

In the end, it ended up being a little less dramatic, but still a good trade for both sides.

Washington Gets:
LW – Jason Chimera

Columbus Gets:
RW – Chris Clark
D – Milan Jurcina

Let’s be honest. Anytime a team trades it’s captain (Clark), it’s going to be scrutinized to the nth degree.

But let’s look at this for a second. The Caps just signed Alexander Semin to a one-year, $6 million extension. Clark is scheduled to make $2.5 million next season, with a $2.633 cap hit, while Chimera is scheduled to make $1.875 million both in reality and against the cap.

It’s not much, but every little bit counts.

Not only that, but this paves the way for Alex Ovechkin to take over the role that he has been groomed for as the team’s captain.

Meanwhile, for Columbus, it gives them two things.

One, a natural born leader in Chris Clark. There is no doubt that the Blue Jackets lack in the leadership department right now and Clark will provide just that.

Second, it gives them a much needed defenseman with both Marc Methot and Rostislav Klesla on the shelf.

It’s very rare in the cap-era of the NHL that you see a win-win trade for both sides, but this truly is one. The Caps are in first place and, though Clark was playing decent hockey for them, Chimera gives them the same qualities—just cheaper.

Gameday Thread – Game 1 – Wild @ Blue Jackets

It’s finally here.

The Wild’s season starts today in Columbus, Ohio against a Blue Jackets team that they have already had extensive experience with during the preseason.

The biggest storyline going into this game is Wild center Eric Belanger’s hit on Jackets winger Jason Chimera.  Despite Belanger’s multiple apologies about the hit, Chimera has been much less than understanding and there is a good chance that the Jackets may be out for some retribution in this game.

Despite all of this, Belanger has been very adamant about the fact that he will not fight, telling the Star Tribune’s Mike Russo that “he would not be fighting Chimera or anybody else and that if they want to take any stupid penalties on him, ‘be my guest.’”

Lineups
The expected Wild lineup for tonight is as listed below:

Brunette-Koivu-Havlat
Nolan-Bouchard-Sykora
Clutterbuck-Sheppard-Miettinen
Scott-Belanger-Brodziak

Schultz-Johnsson
Burns-Zidlicky
Zanon-Hnidy

Backstrom
Harding

For the Blue Jackets, it’s looking like this according to Russo a couple days ago:

Huselius-Brassard-Nash
Filatov-Vermette-Voracek
Chimera-Pahlsson-Umberger
Torres-Murray-Dorsett

Tyutin-Klesla
Hejda-Commodore
Methot-Russell

Russo posted this morning, however, that Commodore is out with a tweaked groin, so that the team has called up Mathieu Roy in his place.  Mason will start in nets for the Jackets.

What to Watch For
The last game that the Wild’s full line up played in, the team started off slow, but skated off with a 5-4 shootout victory.

There’s going to be a much different atmosphere in Columbus tonight, but the Wild will need to get out of the gates early – something that they’ve had problems with in their history.

It will also be important for Todd Richards to manage the game from the bench.

While I have been critical of Richards’ coaching during the preseason, the fact remains that he knows how to win games and is extremely capable of doing so.  He won’t have the last change tonight, but he will need to make decisions of the fly to try to negate the Jackets’ tough top two lines.

Look for the Jackets to come out physically as well, as they will likely be looking for some revenge on Belanger’s hit.  That said, the Jackets will likely not take any stupid penalties as Ken Hitchcock always has a good handle on his team’s discipline.

Keys to the Game
The Wild will need to set the pace for this game if they want to be successful.  The Jackets have a lot of offensive weapons that they can call upon and, if the Wild can set the pace, they can negate them at least a little.

In addition, the team will need to “just play hockey,” as Greg Zanon has said it.  They need to forget about trying to do everything perfect in Richards’ system and just go out and play hockey like they are capable of.

The puck drops in Columbus at 6 PM CST tonight.

Game Recap: Wild Blank Jackets 2-0

The reigning NHL hits king, Cal Clutterbuck, sent a message Friday night — that he isn’t going to be content just being a checker.

Unfortunately, the storyline of the night wasn’t Clutterbuck’s offensive performance.  Instead, it was another ill advised hit — this time, Wild center Eric Belanger on Jackets forward Jason Chimera.

One night after Islanders forward Kyle Okposo was taken off on a stretcher following a Dion Phaneuf hit, Chimera had to be removed from the ice on a stretcher following a check from behind by Belanger late in the second period.  Chimera, in his first shift back after being struck in the face by a puck, was driven face first into the glass by Belanger.  A Blue Jackets spokesman said that Chimera was coherent as he left the ice and gave the sellout crowd a thumbs up.

The hit was atypical for Belanger, who has accrued just 251 penalty minutes in his eight season career.  Belanger was assessed a 5-minute boarding penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.

The hit put a damper on an otherwise impressive performance by the Wild.  The team made the most of their opportunities and the players that were trying to impress coach Todd Richards did just that.

Colton Gillies finished the game with zero points, but put forth a strong effort that saw him tally three shots on goal in just under fifteen minutes of ice time.  Danny Irmen also captured Richards’ attention with yet another hard working, solid performance.  While it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll make the team, he’s definitely gotten noticed.

“Coming in, I didn’t know anything about Danny Irmen when I got here,” Richards told reporters.  ”Watching him skate, he has some skill, he handles the puck well, he moves well enough out on the ice.  Now it’s just getting him in game situations.”

As I’ve mentioned before, I think Irmen might actually have the inside track to landing a job on the big squad this season due to the size of his salary.  Should Gillies make the squad, he would be due over $1M on a team that is pressed right up against the cap.  Irmen, on the other hand, is set to make just a fraction of Gillies — something that will certainly rest on the minds of Richards and Fletcher when making the final roster decisions.

In nets, Backstrom and Harding combined for the shutout with 27 saves between them.