February 27, 2015
As it turns out, Kimmo Timonen won’t be making his long-awaited return to the Flyers’ lineup Saturday night against the Rangers.
In fact, he won’t be returning to the Flyers at all.
The Flyers traded Timonen to the Blackhawks, the team announced Friday evening. The soon-to-be 40-year-old defenseman was sent to Chicago for a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft.
Timonen, who has not played a game this season because of blood clots in his legs and lung, began skating on his own Feb. 6 and has been practicing with the Flyers since Feb. 17.
"I want to thank the Flyers organization as well as the great flyers fans for their support over the last 8 years.," Timonen said via Twitter. "It's been a great ride!"
"When you can get this type of a return & put Kimmo in a spot where he's on one of the top teams, it works for both sides,'' Flyers GM Ron Hextall said via Twitter.
During a meeting with the media earlier this month, Timonen said that the decision to be traded to a contender was out of his hands. And as Monday's trade deadline rapidly approached without him seeing any game action, many believed the Flyers would struggle to move him.
However, a move was imminent for the Flyers, and not just because the team needed to clear an active roster spot for Timonen, but because his return to to the lineup meant the team had nine healthy defenseman. The early speculation was that the Flyers would waive Carlo Colaiacovo, who has been a healthy scratch in each of the last seven games.
When noon passed, and Colaiacovo was not placed on waivers, a trade began to seem more and more likely as the NHL trade deadline arrives Monday.
"When you can get this type of a return & put Kimmo in a spot where he's on one of the top teams, it works for both sides,'' Flyers GM Ron Hextall said via Twitter. "If he wouldn’t have been amicable to being traded, we wouldn’t have traded him. He meant too much to this organization."
Timonen has played 1,079 games for the Flyers and Nashville Predators. He has 117 goals and 454 assists (571 points). He played 519 of those games with the Flyers, going 38-232-270.
Timonen joined the Flyers in 2007 as part of the same deal that brought winger Scott Hartnell to Philadelphia. He is a five-time winner of the Barry Ashbee Trophy, which is given to the Flyers’ best defenseman. After winning the award in each of the last three season, Timonen joined recent Flyers Hall of Fame inductee Eric Desjardins and Mark Howe as the only players to win the award in three consecutive seasons.
