Flyers GM Hextall on Kimmo Timonen: 'I'd be surprised if he was in training camp'

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in his right calf and lung this week, and is out of the lineup indefinitely. 

The veteran Finnish defender, 39, logged third-pairing minutes at even-strength for the Flyers last season, but led all defenseman on the club in shot attempt differential and was a key contributor on Philadelphia's first power-play and penalty-killing units. Timonen was also second among Flyers defenseman in scoring, notching 35 points in 77 games.

Needless to say if Timonen is out for any extended period of time, his absence will weaken an already shallow Flyers defense-corps significantly. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall wouldn't put a timetable on Timonen's return to action on Tuesday, but admitted that "it could be long-term" and that he'd be surprised "if (Timonen) was in training camp."

"I can tell you as an organization we're going to plan that he's going to be out for a while," Hextall told reporters. "We'll plan that he's going to be out for a while and we'll do what we have to do to make the team better."

Hextall was also asked whether or not Timonen's health status might perhaps make the aging defender reconsider his recent decision to play another season in the NHL. The rookie Flyers general manager admitted that, for the moment, he's just not sure:

I don't really want to speculate there. I know this, I had multiple communication with Kimmo once the season was over, leading up to when he when went back to Finland when he kind of hemmed and hawed over whether he wanted to play or not. And as we got a little bit of distance from the end of the season, he was very hungry to play. Whether this effects (his desire to play another NHL season) or not, I don't know. 

As a 39-year-old, if Timonen were to retire in the wake of this health crisis, the Flyers would be stuck with his salary cap-hit due to the 35-plus rule. It seems more likely that Timonen would just go on long-term injured reserve for the season, a la Chris Pronger. 

Decisions of that magnitude can wait though, in the meantime Hextall seems to be focused on bolstering his blue-line in the short-term.

"As an organization we've got to look at our options and see what we can make happen here," said Hextall. "There's some options out there, so we'll continue to assess them and if we get the chance to react then we will."

Update: The Flyers didn't want long to avail themselves of one of the "options" on the market, as the club signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto to a one-year contract on Tuesday evening.