20th Season: Timonen was Preds First Great Defenseman

One of the most consistent themes used in constructing the original Predators was that of opportunity.
The addition of the NHL's newest team in 1998 meant dozens of players - who'd previously failed to make a roster or hadn't been given a fair shake - now had another chance to find their niche.
It would be hard to find a player who took more advantage of that opportunity than defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who spent eight years in Nashville, captained the Predators for one season, and wound up winning a Stanley Cup in his 16th and final NHL season.

Two years after playing his final game, the 42-year-old Timonen remains thankful to the Preds' early management team and coach Barry Trotz, all of whom recognized untapped potential in the 5-foot-10, 194-pound blueliner.
"I think they were able to see that I can play, that I just needed more experience," Timonen said. "Year by year, I was trusted more and more. They gave me the chance to get better as a hockey player. Without them, who knows where I would be?"
Timonen was originally selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the 10th round of the 1993 Draft, but his first experience with that organization - the Kings' training camp in 1995 - didn't bode well for his future.

"I felt pretty good about the way it went, but the word coming out of camp was that they didn't think I could play," Timonen said. "They thought I was too small and they were going to move on."
So Timonen returned to playing in his native Finland, concerned he might never achieve his dream of playing in the NHL. But then he met David Poile at the International Ice Hockey World Championship in 1997.
"David said, 'I'm going to give you a chance. I think you can play,'" Timonen said. "So I was super happy. That was the start."

The Predators' only general manager was in the process of building his first team, and he would eventually make a trade that would bring Timonen and defenseman Jan Vopat to Nashville - in exchange for the Preds not taking Kings defenseman Gary Galley in the 1998 Expansion Draft.
Timonen was thrilled to begin his first Nashville training camp that year, even if Music City didn't exactly strike him as Hockey City back then.
"I walked to the rink every day from my hotel downtown, and it really looked more like an old cowboy movie than an NHL town," Timonen said with a laugh. "But I didn't really care about that. I was focused on the hockey and proving my case. I didn't really care where the team was - the NHL was my dream."
The Predators knew Timonen had NHL talent by the time he finished his first training camp with the team. But Poile and Trotz chose to start Timonen off in Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, where he would spend 29 games adjusting to the smaller rinks and more physical play in North America.

The strategy worked well, as Timonen made a smooth transition to the NHL that season, eventually totaling 12 points in 50 games as a rookie.
"When I look back, I think it was exactly the right move to send me down because I was playing 25 or 30 minutes each night [in Milwaukee], every kind of situation," Timonen said. "To me, that was probably the biggest thing for me moving to the NHL level."
Timonen became a lynchpin of an improving Predators franchise, totaling 301 points (79 goals, 222 assists) in 573 games over eight seasons in Nashville. He was named the team's captain for the 2006-07 season and responded with career highs of 13 goals, 42 assists and 55 points - numbers that helped him earn his second selection to the NHL All-Star Game.

The Predators traded Timonen to Philadelphia in June, 2007, as the franchise transitioned to new ownership.
He's still among franchise career leaders in a number of categories - fourth in games played, fourth in assists (222) and fourth in points (301).
"All three of my kids were born in Nashville, so obviously I have a really good relationship with the city," Timonen said. "We still have some family friends there. We got to go there at the [2016] All-Star Game, and the city had grown so much. I was pretty proud of the city and fans and the team."
Timonen would go on to play seven seasons in Philadelphia, earning two more trips to the NHL All-Star contest.
He spent his final season in Chicago, where Timonen was limited to just 16 regular-season contests in 2014-15 because of blood clots. But he played through his health concerns during 18 postseason games, and at the age of 39, Timonen lifted the Stanley Cup just before retiring.

"The chances of me getting back on the ice [in the playoffs] were pretty slim," Timonen said. "But I didn't want to retire that way. So I fought it off, and I fought against the doctors pretty much. It was obviously a dream ending for me."
Timonen and his family - which includes wife Johanna, son Sam, and daughters Amelie and Fiona - call the suburbs of Philadelphia home these days. The former Preds blueliner is enjoying retirement life, but said he could return to the game in some capacity down the line.