Flyers' Giroux on absence of Timonen: 'It's going to hurt the team'

The Philadelphia Flyers will likely play this season without veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen due to blood clots in his calf and lungs at the end of August. He hasn't retired, but the odds of him playing are slim, which will be a big loss for his team.

"I don't think anybody can replace Kimmo," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. "It's going to hurt the team."

Timonen played the last seven seasons with the Flyers after coming over from the Nashville Predators. He scored 270 points in 519 games and has never played less than an average of 19 minutes his whole career.

The Flyers have some big shoes to fill, but will look to a free-agent signing to help them out. "It's a great opportunity for a guy like Michael Del Zotto to step in and play a lot of minutes for us," Giroux said.

The 39-year-old Timonen signed a one-year, $2-million contract to remain with the team this season. It is unlikely he plays, though, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet noted Dmitri Yushkevich went through the same health issue.

Years ago, when (Dmitri) Yushkevich was in Toronto, he was out of the lineup with the same malady. To get back in, he offered to sign a waiver releasing the team from liability if anything happened to him. The doctors (and lawyers) wouldn't consider it.

For Timonen to return, he would have to be free of his life-threatening blood clots.