Kimmo Timonen’s future with the Philadelphia Flyers is up in the air.
The 39-year-old defenceman signed a one-year, $2-million contract extension with the team in June, but he was hospitalized in his native Finland in August after doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs and lower right leg.
“I want to play, [but] the chance of me playing is really slim,” Timonen told reporters in Philadelphia Thursday. “That’s the fact, but I’m ready to wait to see if I still have those clots. I’ve been seeing a lot of doctors, and there’s different opinions. I have a blood disorder in my family. My desire is to play, but I have to listen to doctors and see what’s safe here.”
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General manager Ron Hextall said the team’s main concern is Timonen’s health and not how his absence will affect the Flyers.
“We’re concerned about Kimmo, his health and his family first. Hockey is second,” Hextall explained. “We would never put him in danger. If he feels he is capable of playing, we will certainly welcome him back later in the year.”
Timonen registered six goals and 32 points in 77 games for the Flyers last season. Since being traded to the Flyers in 2007, he has 38 goals, 270 points and has won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s best defenceman five times. In 1,092 career NHL games, the four-time Olympic medallist (three bronze, one silver) has 117 goals, 454 assists, 652 penalty minutes and a plus-38 rating.
