The 16/17 New York Islanders season report cards continue today with winger Jason Chimera. This was Chimera’s first season with the club and he, like most of the roster, struggled out of the gate. However if you look at the totality of the season, the veteran forward met expectations.

Chimera was brought in to solidify the bottom six forwards on this team, so in pure Islander fashion he was on the top line opening night. You can blame this on Islander General Manager Garth Snow and former Head Coach Jack Capuano and not the player in this instance.

Chimera bounced around lines for a while but finally found a home with rookies Josh Ho-Sang and Anthony Beauvillier. The three really clicked together as Chimera was one of the few players that could keep up with the two kids. If the Islanders address their top six correctly this offseason (I’m not holding my breath) and this is the third line again, I think the team will be in good shape.

Chimera was added to this team to score 15 to 20 goals and stabilize the bottom six. It took 12 games for Chimera to get his first goal but once he got going, Chimera finished with 20 goals and 13 assists. Look, a lot went wrong this year and there is plenty of changes that need to occur before this October. I do not think that Chimera is one of the issues rather than part of the solution for moving forward. I think we got what we expected from Chimera, solid depth, strong skating and 20 goals. As I look back at the 16/17 season I will give Chimera a grade of B based of what his role was to be to this team.

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