#Chimdog. (Photo credit: Mitchell Layton)
Something just doesn’t seem right when you see Jason Chimera among the league leaders in goals scored.
You expect it from Ryan Kesler Phil Kessel, who has scored over 30 goals each of the last three years. He has three in the season’s first two games and a muscle on his thigh I don’t really think exists, but I digress.
(I obviously had Kesler’s dreamy, muscular thighs on the brain and meant Phil Kessel, but I’ll leave Mr. Thigh Muscle up for your enjoyment. — Neil)
You expect it from Anze Kopitar, who I felt was an instant MVP candidate the moment they acquired Mike Richards.
But when Chimera is ahead of Alex Ovechkin in goals scored, you know things are a little wacky.
Chimera, of course, is not really known for his finishing ability. He’s a speedy, third line winger with an average shooting percentage of 7.8 percent over the past two seasons.
And no, Chimera will probably not be a 20-goal scorer.
Chimera has scored 101 goals on 1095 shots over his career. That means we can be reasonably sure (95%) that his shooting “talent” is between 7.5 and 10.9 percent. At this talent level he would need to take between 183 and 266 shots (two to three per game) over the course of an 82-game season to finish with 20 goals. He has averaged 161 shots the past two seasons.
It’s doubtful he continues at a five shot-per-night pace, but it is likely he ends up around two shots per game, which would mean he needs to be at the upper level of his finishing talent to have a shot at 20 goals scored.
Overall, I put his chances at 3.2% to be at 20 goals or more so enjoy Beast Mode while it lasts, Chimdog.
