After a hard-fought, 16-year NHL career culminated in a Stanley Cup championship last fall, Kimmo Timonen is enjoying the perks of retirement.
“It’s been actually pretty nice,” Timonen said Saturday. “Summer flew by, and lots of stuff going on during the summer obviously. But we’re back here in the Philly area and my kids are in school. My son actually moved to a prep school. I’ve been really busy, but so far, so good.”
Timonen, who spent seven years of his career in Philadelphia, will be honored by the Flyers in a pregame ceremony at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday (see story). With the Blackhawks in town, he admitted it will be an emotional night.
And though he’s happy spending some well-deserved time with his wife and three children, Timonen is beginning to think about what his post-playing days will bring. He met with Flyers general manager Ron Hextall a few weeks ago to talk about a potential job in the future.
"I’m not really ready to do anything yet," Timonen told Hextall. "I put it this way — I’ve done this for 25 years at the professional level. It is a great life to live, but at the same time you follow the program every day pretty much. I didn’t get the chance to be with my family that much. I missed a lot of birthdays and a lot of my son’s hockey games. I want to take some time here just to spend some time with my family and not to be told by somebody that you’ve got to be there and got to see these games. So I’m going to try to really enjoy these few months.
"Down the road, I know I need to do something. I’m 40 years old and I can’t sit still. I’m sure at some point in the next two to three months we’re going to have another meeting and see if I get some kind of itch to work. I’m kind of waiting with my wife, she tells me to leave the house every once in a while. So I want to do something."
Timonen hinted he has some interest in coaching. That should come as no surprise, either. He was a natural leader on the ice and thrived while anchoring the Flyers’ blue line and special-team units during his tenure in Philadelphia.
Teammates often went to Timonen for advice. He was always refreshingly honest with the media, too. You always knew what was on his mind.
"I like to teach people,” the five-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner said. “I like to talk to players, I like to give my opinion of what I see on the ice, what they can do better. At the same time, that kind of road, that’s a big commitment. Once you want to be some kind of coach with the team, that’s a 24/7 job. I’m not really ready to do that. But that would be the perfect job for me, to help the D-men and just give them my opinion about the game, what I think they can do better, that kind of stuff. But that might be way down the road when the kids are out of the home."
Timonen, a five-time NHL All-Star, acknowledged it’s unrealistic to think he’d jump into a coaching job right away with the Flyers. He did, however, say he’d be open to a number of positions and is confident he’d be helpful to the organization at any capacity.
"In the near future, hockey has been my life, so I understand what hockey is and what is a good team and what is a good player," he said. "If it’s scouting or some kind of management job, I know my stuff — I know that. But at the same time, I haven’t really thought about what the role might be. I would like to help the Flyers down the road. When that is, I don’t quite know yet.”
Timonen still follows the Flyers. He said he watched the team’s season opener against Tampa Bay last week and was impressed with their effort.
"I really do hope the Flyers play well this year and they do well," he said. "Best of luck to the team. I actually saw the game [in Tampa] a couple days ago and they actually played really well. If they play that way they’re going to win a lot of games."
Timonen has also heard good things about new Flyers coach Dave Hakstol.
"One of these days I’ll get to meet him," Timonen said of Hakstol. "What I keep hearing is everybody likes him and he’s honest. I don’t know the system, I haven’t seen anything other than a couple days ago, but it looked like they were forechecking hard and skating hard. You’ll win a lot of games like that."
One thing's for sure: Timonen has no regrets about hanging up his skates. He was in Chicago for the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony last week and visited the team in the locker room.
"I wanted to see if I got any kind of itch to put my gear on and go out there, but I didn’t," Timonen said. "So that’s what tells me I was ready to go.
"I knew it was my last year [in 2014-15] when the season was going. For six months I didn’t play, so that was kind the time I was able to kind of enjoy the retirement life. I knew I was done, and I’m happy with my decision."
