Kimmo Samuel Timonen (born 18 March 1975) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who played 16 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

, and

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

. Timonen had played in over 1,100 NHL games before retiring. During his career, Timonen had also featured in three

IIHF World Junior Championships The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

, seven

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and five Olympic tournaments. He won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 in his final career game. He was inducted into the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

in 2020.

Playing career

Timonen was the youngest player to play for Finland at the 1993 IIHF World Junior Championships at the age of 17. He recorded the second-highest shot total in the tournament with 44. Timonen was drafted by the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

in the tenth round, 250th overall, of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. After the draft, he continued to play in his native Finland for several years, first for

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuop ...

and then later for TPS. In 1998, Timonen played on the bronze medal-winning

Olympic team in

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

. Shortly after the Olympics, the Kings traded him, along with

Jan Vopat Jan Vopat (born March 22, 1973) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who played 126 games in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators between 1996 and 1999. He is the older brother of former NHL cen ...

, to the

organization (the team not yet having begun play) in agreement that Nashville would not select

Garry Galley Garry Michael Galley (born April 16, 1963) is a Canadian broadcaster and former professional ice hockey player. Galley played in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 2001. Galley was a former co-host of the defunct "More On Sports" radio prog ...

in the

1998 NHL Expansion Draft The 1998 NHL Expansion Draft was an expansion draft held by the National Hockey League (NHL) to fill the roster of the league's expansion team for the 1998–99 season, the Nashville Predators. The draft took place on June 26, 1998, in Buffalo, N ...

With the Nashville Predators

During the 1998–99 season, Timonen split time between Nashville and their IHL affiliate, the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

. The following year, he was promoted to a full-time NHL player. He played the next four seasons for the Predators, steadily improving his offensive output, until the 2004–05 NHL lockout. During the lockout, Timonen played for his hometown team, KalPa, which he partly owns with former Flyers teammate

Sami Kapanen Sami Hannu Antero Kapanen (born 14 June 1973) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played 12 NHL seasons for the Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers. He is the majority own ...

. Timonen also persuaded his teammate Adam Hall to play for KalPa for the duration of the lockout. Timonen represented Finland at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and led his team in scoring with six points, the fifth-highest total overall in the tournament. On 3 October 2006, Timonen was named the captain of the Nashville Predators for the 2006–07 season. That season proved to be a career year for Timonen, as he registered career highs in both assists and total points.

With the Philadelphia Flyers

Following the 2006–07 season, Timonen was traded to the

. Shortly after, he signed a six-year, $37.8 million contract extension with them, a deal which made him the highest paid Finn in the NHL. At the time, Timonen's younger brother

Jussi Timonen Jussi Timonen (born June 29, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Schwenninger Wild Wings of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He is the younger broth ...

was playing for the

Philadelphia Phantoms The Philadelphia Phantoms were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1996 to 2009. The club was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and played most of its home games at the Spectrum. During schedule ...

, the Flyers'

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) affiliate. However, Jussi was subsequently traded to the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

early in the 2007–08 season. Kimmo Timonen 2010-10-07

The Flyers beat the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

4–3 and the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

4–1 in the first two rounds of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. During Game 4 of the Flyers' series with Montreal, Timonen was hit by a wrist shot on his foot by Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov. Timonen felt numbness in his foot as the week progressed, though believed it to be nothing but a twisted nerve. After an MRI failed to reveal any injury, Timonen had the foot examined at the

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is the flagship hospital of Penn Medicine and is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia. It is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals in the United States. Histor ...

, where, on 8 May, the doctor found a small

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of ...

in his foot. He was sidelined indefinitely and missed the first four games of the Eastern Conference Finals against the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

. Timonen returned for Game 5, but the Flyers eventually lost the game and their playoff run came to an end. In the 2009–10 regular season, Timonen led all NHL defensemen in shorthanded goals scored, with two. That year, Timonen would play in his first ever Stanley Cup Final, though the Flyers would lose to the

in a six-game series. Timonen scored his 100th career goal on 5 March 2011, against the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

. He ended the season in a tie with

Marc Staal Marc Staal (born January 13, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL) after having played over 1,000 regular season games with the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings ...

for most shorthanded goals among defensemen, with two. Timonen recorded his 500th career point with an assist on 1 March 2012, against the New York Islanders. He played his 1,000th NHL game on 18 March 2013, his 37th birthday.

Blood clots and Stanley Cup victory with the Chicago Blackhawks

In preparation for the 2014–15 season, on 5 August 2014, Timonen was diagnosed with blood clots in both of his lungs as well as in his right leg. The serious nature of injury ruled Timonen out indefinitely with the Flyers. Approaching the

NHL trade deadline In professional sports within the United States and Canada, a trade is a sports league transaction between sports clubs involving the exchange of player rights from one team to another. Though player rights are the primary trading assets, draft p ...

, and returning to health after missing the first 62 games of the season, Timonen was traded by the Flyers to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a 2015 second-round pick and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

conditional fourth-round pick on 27 February 2015. He left the Flyers organization as the third most productive defenseman in franchise history, with 270 points in 519 games. On 21 March 2015, he played in his 1,100th NHL game. On 5 March, Timonen announced his intent to retire from professional hockey after the 2014–15 season. On 15 June, Timonen won his first Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in the final game of his 20-year career. During the celebration, Timonen was the first player to receive the Stanley Cup following captain

Jonathan Toews Jonathan Bryan Toews ( ; born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Captain Serious", Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the t ...

. Timonen reflected on his career stating, "I was dreaming about this moment for a long time, and it’s right here. This game has given me so much, and I’m relieved, happy, ready to leave this game, and I’m leaving this game as a Stanley Cup champion." He was the last active player in the NHL from the 1993 NHL entry draft. In February 2016, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

received the winning Blackhawks team in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. During his speech, he unexpectedly gave Timonen a laudation:

YLE Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, found ...

Urheiluruutu, 19 February 2016. Timonen commented on this to the Finnish state broadcasting company

Personal life

Kimmo is married to Johanna Timonen and has 3 children. Kimmo announced his retirement after winning the Stanley Cup in 2015 with the Blackhawks. Timonen owns several restaurants and nightclubs in his hometown of Kuopio.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

- First Team All-Star selection at the

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

- Matti Keinonen trophy for best +/- in the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

*Two-time

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish Liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 19 ...

champion -

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

(TPS and HIFK) * 2005 - Elected most valuable player in the

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division' ...

playoffs * 2005 -

champion (KalPa) *Named to

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

(unable to play due to injury), 2004, 2007,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

*Five-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner as

best defenseman –

, 2009,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* 2015 -

Clarence S. Campbell Bowl The Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, or simply the Campbell Bowl, is a team award presented by the National Hockey League (NHL). Named after Clarence Campbell, who served as president of the NHL from to , it has been awarded for different accomplishme ...

champion (Chicago Blackhawks) * 2015 - Stanley Cup champion (Chicago Blackhawks) * KalPa #44 jersey retired 2016 *2020

inductee. The induction ceremony was scheduled during the 2020 IIHF World Championship, but was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The IIHF Hall of Fame class of 2020/2022 was inducted during the

2022 IIHF World Championship The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. The host cities of the World Championships were Tampere and Helsi ...

References

External links

*
The President Welcomes the Chicago Blackhawks, 2015 Stanley Cup Champions — Barack Obaman makes a special mention of Timonen at the White House at 4:14

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Timonen, Kimmo 1975 births Brynäs IF players Chicago Blackhawks players Finnish ice hockey defencemen HC Lugano players HIFK (ice hockey) players Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics KalPa players Living people Los Angeles Kings draft picks Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players Nashville Predators players National Hockey League All-Stars Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland People from Kuopio Philadelphia Flyers players HC TPS players Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Stanley Cup champions Sportspeople from North Savo