Flyers Notes: Flyers trade Timonen to Blackhawks

Kimmo Timonen, one of the best defensemen in Flyers history, said he wanted a chance to win a Stanley Cup in the final season of his superb NHL career.

On Friday night, the Flyers gave him that opportunity, sending him to the powerful Chicago Blackhawks for a second-round pick in the June draft and a conditional fourth-round selection in 2016.

"The only thing I'm missing from my hockey career is a Stanley Cup," Timonen, sidelined all season because of blood clots, said in a conference call Friday night.

That, he said, is what fueled his six-month rehabilitation and his desire to return to the ice.

"It wasn't money," he said. "It wasn't anything else that was missing."

The conditional pick the Flyers will receive becomes a third-rounder if the Blackhawks win two playoff rounds and Timonen plays half of the games, or a second-rounder if Chicago wins three rounds and he plays half of the games.

Bottom line: The Flyers could get as many as two second-round picks for a defenseman who turns 40 on March 18 and has said this will be his final season.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall called it a good deal for both sides.

"In the end, they may have underpaid by a long shot," he said. ". . . I know Kimmo is 39 years old, but he's a special player."

Timonen, a four-time all-star who hopes to play his first game Monday against visiting Carolina, thanked the Flyers and fans for their support during his eight years with the organization.

"It's been a great ride!" he tweeted.

When the Flyers were 12 points out of a playoff spot earlier this month, Timonen said he talked to Hextall about a possible trade. Timonen told the GM: "My goal is to win the Stanley Cup."

At one point, the Flyers climbed to within two points of a playoff spot, but are currently six points out.

Timonen said that it was a "tough day" to part, but that he was thrilled to be going to the Blackhawks (37-20-5), who are third in the tough Central Division.

"I'm really excited about joining the Chicago team," said Timonen, who will return with the Blackhawks when they play the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on March 25. "Great team. Great players."

Timonen said he likes that Chicago is a puck-possession team. "That's my game," he said.

Hextall said the Blackhawks, who were talking to him about Timonen for "weeks," weren't just getting a quality player, "but a damn good person, too."

In September, about a month after the blood clots were discovered in his lungs and right calf, Timonen acknowledged that the "chance of me playing is really slim."

But after months of workouts, he has been cleared by doctors to play and has beaten the odds.

Hextall revealed that numerous teams had shown interest in Timonen in recent weeks, and that he conferred with the defenseman about each call.

Tweeted Flyers star winger Jake Voracek: "No words needed! Good luck Kimmo. one of the best I ever play with#class act"

Chicago is aiming for its third Cup in the last six seasons.

"He was the defenseman we really wanted," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman told the Chicago Sun-Times. "Setting aside that he hasn't played, once we get him up to speed, he's a great player. He's been an elite defenseman for a lot of years."

This would have been Timonen's eighth season with the Flyers. In 519 games with the team, the five-time Finnish Olympian had 38 goals and 232 assists for 270 points. He was a five-time winner of the Barry Ashbee Award, including the last three seasons. The award is given annually to the Flyers' top defenseman.