Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen was treated for blood clots in both of his lungs as well as his lower right leg on Monday, the team announced earlier today.
While in his native Finland, Timonen went to the hospital after a couple of days of complaining about pains in his lower leg when he was diagnosed with blood clots. “Kimmo was with his buddy and had pain in his calf for three days and thought he had a pulled a calf muscle,” Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall said. He later added that the friend convinced him to get checked out in a hospital. “They did some type of evaluation and found the blood clots …”
Timonen, who is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow, is out indefinitely. For the 39 year-old veteran (who turns 40 in March), that could possibly mean the end of his career. Timonen re-signed with the Flyers for 1 year and $2 million, which includes incentives that could double that.
“There’s no question, it’s a setback; there’s no other way to explain it,” Hextall said. “We’ll do what we can to make the team better. We’ve been looking at a few things for the last few weeks and this will probably expedite something. You can’t take, not only the player, but the experience, the calm and the poise and the respect Kimmo has in the locker room and not say you didn’t take a step back.”
As for the Flyers, they now find themselves looking for a replacement for Timonen, who averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time last season (20:20 to be exact).
While Hextall is a believer in building from within, and the Flyers do have a few defenseman developing, adding another veteran presence to replace Timonen has not been ruled out. “We believe it could be a long-term situation and will continue to evaluate what is out there. If we feel we need to make a move we will and I would suspect there’s a good chance we will.” Hextall said in a conference call.
Timonen is listed as in stable condition, but will not be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. Once he is cleared to travel, he will head back to Philadelphia where he will be re-evaluated. “He’s in stable condition and doing well, and the word is he should be discharged tomorrow,” Hextall said. “We’re more worried about Kimmo the person, and not the hockey player.”
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