Working quietly and alone, Flyers' Timonen still hopes to play

EVERY WEEKDAY morning at 8 o'clock, after he drops his kids off at school, a familiar face strides into weight room in the Flyers' practice facility.

He trains hard, mostly out of the view of teammates and the public, hoping and praying for one more chance on the ice.

Kimmo Timonen, 39, has not played hockey since April 30. The multiple blood clots, found in his right calf and both lungs in August, and subsequent anticoagulant medications have prevented him from doing so.

Timonen rides a bike. He runs. He plays tennis. He lifts weights. He can do everything right now except play hockey - and that is the most frustrating part.

"It's hard to realize, the fact that I can work out with real intensity, the same intensity I would any summer," Timonen said in a recent interview with the Daily News. "How come I can't play hockey? Some days, I wonder if that's just the medicine talking. I know I've got to be careful."

Right now for Timonen, it's like an old Tom Petty song: The waiting is the hardest part.

Timonen is still taking the medicine doctors prescribed to thin his blood. Timonen likely will need to be on these same medications the rest of his life, after doctors discovered a Protein C deficiency that explains the clotting, a hereditary trait that also affects his mother and his two brothers.

The deficiency can lead to a type of blood clot known as deep-vein thrombosis, the type you see warnings for on long airplane rides, in arms and legs.

As the doctor told Timonen in August, "People just die from this kind of stuff."

On the medication, Timonen faces little risk in everyday life. But he would like to push the envelope, to wait and see whether the medication eliminates the current known clots from his blood to see whether he can stop taking the medication for a period of time long enough to return to playing.

Timonen will find out his career's fate when he undergoes ultrasounds and CT scans sometime after the New Year. He doesn't yet have them scheduled, saying it "depends when I stop taking the medicine."

"Until then, I'm just waiting," Timonen said. "There is no real update. I've had no bad symptoms with the clotting so far, so I'm trying to remain hopeful."

If the scans reveal lingering clots, Timonen's career is likely over after 1,092 NHL games and four Olympic medals.

Even if the scans are clear - a tricky case, since blood clots can be extremely hard to spot and experts don't always share the same opinion when diagnosing the same scan - Timonen will have to convince doctors and his family it is worth the risk to stay off the medication long enough to play.

The bottom line is hockey is completely off-limits while Timonen is on the medication.

"I need to be very careful, even just with everyday stuff," Timonen said. "I need to avoid bruises, or anything that could break the skin - like getting hit in the face with a stick."

In addition to staying in shape, Timonen has attended a significant portion of games to start the season. He participated in the "team bonding" excursion on Cape Cod in September and remained in Boston for the season opener. He attended the Phantoms' home opener in Allentown.

On Thursday, Timonen watched the induction of Eric Lindros and John LeClair into the Flyers' Hall of Fame - an exclusive club he could one day join - from the press box, where he has been almost every home game. In that press box, his passion for the game rages on.

"It's still hard to watch games," Timonen said. "My emotions are still high. I still get angry."

To say he could help the Flyers' ailing defense right now is no farce. He could certainly aid the penalty kill, which has allowed at least one goal in four straight games and a staggering eight out of its last 16 attempts.

Timonen hasn't allowed himself to take on any sort of mentoring role - and he's never been seen inside the locker room. He is keeping the rest of the Flyers at an arm's length, hoping against hope, knowing his chance to return remains slim.

"I see the players come in, and that's usually when I'll leave," Timonen said. "I might stay and eat breakfast or lunch and see them. But I kind of want to stay away. I don't want to be a distraction."

Defenseman Michael Del Zotto remains "questionable" with a "lower-body" injury. He is a possibility to return to the lineup tonight against Columbus, after leaving Wednesday's game in New York in the third period while diving to block a shot. If Del Zotto is healthy, coach Craig Berube will be faced with a tough roster decision, since Nick Schultz has been one of the Flyers' most impressive defensemen this season.

Forward Chris VandeVelde is "unlikely" with a "lower-body" injury after he was seen leaving the medical room Thursday night with a pronounced limp. VandeVelde's injury only increases first-round pick Scott Laughton's chances of sticking around for a few more days.

With help from a 25-member panel, including this reporter, ESPN.com ranked the top 100 forwards, 50 defensemen, 30 coaches and 25 goalies as part of their #NHLrank. Claude Giroux finished 14th, Wayne Simmonds ranked 44th and Jake Voracek was 60th. Not surprising, no Flyers defenseman made the list, and goaltender Steve Mason also did not make the cut . . . Craig Berube came in as the 24th ranked coach among 30 teams, ahead of Willie Desjardins, Ted Nolan, Randy Carlyle, Bill Peters, Gerard Gallant and Dallas Eakins . . . Unemployed coaches, such as Dan Bylsma, were not included.

When Peter Forsberg was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this week, the Denver Post reported in greater depth on Forsberg's foot issues, which cut his tenure with the Flyers to only 100 games.

The paper reported that Forsberg had his right heel bone sawed off and moved up while he was with the Flyers in an attempt to alleviate pain. The surgery didn't work, so Forsberg's heel needed to be moved back down and held in place with the help of pins.

"To the Flyers and Predators, I'm sorry I couldn't do better," Forsberg said during his Hall of Fame induction speech Monday in Toronto.

The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis revealed this week in a story that Chris Pronger told the NHL he asked for a 4-year contract extension in 2009, but the Flyers went with 7 years to "lower the cap charge."

Pronger, now 40, still has an additional two seasons to go on a contract that was investigated by the league for cap circumvention. Pronger, of course, now works for the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

Pronger's contract is not one of the 17 still active in the NHL for possible cap recapture penalties, designed to penalize teams who used long-term deals to defray cap cost if they retire before finishing the deal. That's because Pronger's deal would count fully against the Flyers' cap if he retired.

Recapture penalties for Jeff Carter or Mike Richards would not apply to the Flyers, since they were traded before the 2013 collective bargaining agreement with the new rule went into effect. Then-general manager Paul Holmgren was the one who signed both players to their 11- and 12-year deals, respectively.

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