Timonen’s Time

Originally published in Rinkside in 2007

By Lucas Aykroyd

Aspiring country stars come to Nashville, Tennessee to hone their musical skills and get their shot at the big time. Similarly, Kimmo Timonen has paid his dues in Music City, and now the mobile Finnish defenseman is hoping for a big pay-off in the post-season.

Since being named Nashville’s captain on October 3, 2006, Timonen has responded to the challenge of providing leadership. The Predators are bound for the third straight playoff berth in their eight-year history, and they’re a bona fide Western Conference powerhouse.

“I’m very excited when you look at our hockey team,” Timonen told Rinkside. “I can tell we’ve got the best team we’ve had so far. We’ve been playing pretty well, so hopefully we can all stay healthy and have a good playoff run here.”

The Predators have competed with Detroit all season for top spot in the Central Division, and they’ve done it with a core of talented veteran forwards like Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan, young hard-rock defensemen like Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis, and the outstanding goalie tandem of Tomas Vokoun and Chris Mason.

J.P. Dumont was a nice free agent signing last summer, but the February 15 acquisition of legendary Swedish center Peter Forsberg from the Philadelphia Flyers is what’s really gotten the hockey world buzzing. Even though Nashville had to give up two good young prospects in Scottie Upshall and Ryan Parent, plus first-round and third-round picks in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Timonen believes it was worth the price.

“We’re talking about a player who is going to be a future Hall-of-Famer,” said Timonen. “He has won the Stanley Cup and Olympic gold and the World Championship. He has won pretty much everything you can win as a hockey player. Every time when you add a player like him, he’s going to make the team better right away, and he makes the players around him better. He’s done it all, and he’s one of the best players in the world.”

Is it mind-blowing for Timonen to suit up alongside Forsberg, who did so much damage to Nashville over the years? “It is kind of strange,” Timonen admitted. “When he got here for his first game, I was walking behind him out to the ice, and I was like, ‘Wow, he’s really here!’ It’s awesome. I played against him throughout the years on national teams and when he was in Colorado. I always kind of thought it would be nice to play with him somewhere down the road, and now I’m getting that chance.”

Of course, even the superb all-around game that a healthy Forsberg provides won’t carry Nashville deep into the playoffs if the goaltending isn’t equally good. Timonen has confidence in both Vokoun, who backstopped the Czech Republic to the 2005 IIHF World Championship, and the less-heralded Mason, who’s consistently registered a save percentage better than .910 since 2003-04.

“Vokoun started pretty well, and then he got hurt, and then Mason came in and played really well for us for two months,” said Timonen. “I think Mason should have been at the All-Star Game, frankly, with the way he played. Then Vokoun came back and he’s been good ever since. If you look around the NHL, good teams usually have at least one good goalie, and we’re lucky enough to have two. Heading into the playoffs, it means you don’t have to worry about whether your Number One guy gets hurt, because you’ve actually got two Number Ones.”

Clearly, Timonen prefers to discuss his teammates instead of touting his own exploits. But as an original Predator dating back to 1998-99, the man who wears number 44 is the franchise’s all-time leader in points and games played, and he has improved every year.

He averaged 42 points a season before the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and in this new, wide-open era, he’s become an even more prolific scorer. The 32-year-old, who represented Nashville at January’s All-Star Game in Dallas, has also led the team in average ice time almost every season since 2000-01, logging more than 22 minutes nightly this year.

“I always think that it comes down to the team,” Timonen said. “If the team is doing well, usually individuals are doing well too. I have had a good time, and I haven’t had any injuries, so I’ve been having fun. You go on the ice with a lot of confidence when you’re winning games. It’s all come together for us.”

Team depth has been a huge key for this expansion franchise. Instead of squandering valuable draft picks in deals for aging veterans, Nashville has built from within. The trade for Forsberg, which GM David Poile wouldn’t have contemplated three or four years ago, signals that it’s time to make a splash.

“Usually teams have one really good line and three solid lines, but I think now with Peter, we’ve got three really good lines,” Timonen said. “And our fourth line can be relied on to do whatever we ask of them. I think it comes down to team balance. We’ve got really good balance, and it’ll be hard for teams to shut down three lines.”

However, let’s not go awarding the Stanley Cup to the Predators before the first post-season puck has even been dropped. Apart from Forsberg, the only other Stanley Cup winner they have is Jason Arnott (New Jersey, 2000).

Also, some will question whether the Predators have enough grit up front, beyond guys like Forsberg and Arnott, to succeed in long playoff series against other rough-and-ready contenders such as Anaheim or San Jose.

“In my mind, it is still about the speed,” Timonen countered. “If you can use your assets, which for us is speed, I don’t think you have to be a tough guy. We’ve been doing that pretty well. If we can do that in the playoffs, I’m not worried about whether we have a bunch of tough guys or not.”

The 5-10, 196-pound veteran is just as confident that early-20’s blueline regulars like Weber, Hamhuis, and Ryan Suter will deliver the goods under playoff pressure.

“In training camp, a lot of reporters asked me if I was concerned about the fact our defense was so young overall. I was a little worried about that too, actually, but when you look at these guys now, they play like they’ve been in the NHL for 10 years. So that’s not an issue anymore. They’re great players, they’re only going to get better, and they’re going to be around for many years. We’re lucky to have them. Look at a kid like Shea Weber. He plays hard and he fights, so you can’t ask for much more.”

All of Nashville’s young players, right down to super-talented Russian rookie Alexander Radulov, can benefit from observing the example of Paul Kariya. Granted, the 32-year-old two-time Lady Byng Trophy winner may not score 100 points a season anymore, as he did in his Anaheim heyday. But his intensely focused approach toward the sport is something to behold, according to Timonen.

“I think a lot of our young guys watch Paul and the way he prepares himself for games. Even I do that. A lot of times I shake my head, watching him. He does the same things every time, win or lose. He’ll be there the next morning, working out hard and getting ready for the next game. I guess you could call him the total athlete. He’s preparing himself on game days and off-days. Everything he does is geared toward hockey. Off the ice, he eats well and things like that. He’s one of those guys that wants to make sure he’s always ready to play, and he does a really good job.”

Another member of the organization who has earned Timonen’s respect with his consistency is head coach Barry Trotz. The 44-year-old Winnipeg native, who won an AHL title and Coach of the Year honors with the Portland Pirates in 1994, has kept his job longer than any other current NHL coach. Trotz signed with the Nashville organization back in 1997, and even though the team floundered in the early years, he’s been given the opportunity to continue building something special for the fans at the Gaylord Entertainment Centre.

“As a guy who’s been here since Day One, I’ve got a pretty close relationship with Barry,” said Timonen. “As a coach, he’s very easy to approach. You can tell him if you’re not feeling good due to some injuries and would like to take a day off, and he’ll give you the day off. The players respect him, and he respects the players. It’s a good combination. Another thing about him, he hasn’t changed a bit since Day One. That’s what I like most.”

Timonen has a special understanding of the patience that’s required to build a winner in a small market, and not just because of the years he’s spent in Nashville. Growing up in Kuopio, Finland, he learned his hockey with the local sports club, KalPa. Kuopio, founded in 1653, isn’t a hamlet by any means: the overall area of the city includes about 120,000 inhabitants. Nonetheless, it’s tough to encourage talented local youngsters to stay home instead of showcasing their skills for NHL scouts with Finnish Elite League clubs in larger markets such as Helsinki, Turku, or Tampere.

Timonen owns a 13-percent share in KalPa nowadays, while fellow Kuopio native Sami Kapanen of the Philadelphia Flyers is the majority owner. During the lockout, Timonen stepped into the KalPa lineup and enabled his hometown club to achieve promotion from Mestis (one step below the Elite League). But KalPa has sunk to the bottom of the Elite League standings this year, indicating there’s plenty of work to be done.

“Back home, obviously we don’t have the money that they have for players over here, so we really have to be patient,” said Timonen. “We’ve got a really good junior system with Kalpa, so that’ll be key for us in the future. We’ll be bringing up our own junior players into the main league, rather than trying to buy players from different cities. I don’t think we could do that. It’s been tough, but it’s going to take time. It’s only our second year in the Elite League. It’s a similar story to what’s happened here in Nashville. You have to be patient and go with the young guys. Give them ice time and they’ll get better.”

As it happens, the young Timonen himself couldn’t resist joining TPS Turku in the mid-1990’s in pursuit of his NHL dream, after being drafted by Los Angeles in 1993 (10th round, 250th overall). But his first experience at an NHL training camp didn’t provide a lot of positive feedback in either Europe or North America.

“With TPS Turku at the time, we had a well-known Russian coach named Vladimir Yurzinov,” said Timonen. “He was actually wasn’t happy about me going to L.A.’s camp. He said: ‘I’ll give you a week over there, and then you have to come back.’ So I was only there for seven or eight days. I didn’t play in any exhibition games. I was just there for training camp. I thought I did a pretty good job there, but they didn’t think so. At that time, they thought I was too small to play defense in the NHL. That was it, pretty much. I never talked to the Kings anymore.”

But Timonen didn’t pout. He continued to hone his skills in Finland, and after spending three years in Turku, he decided to accept an offer from IFK Helsinki GM Jarmo Kekalainen (now the assistant GM of the St. Louis Blues) for 1997-98. That season turned out to be a remarkable experience, as IFK assembled a powerhouse roster that could be dubbed Finland’s answer to the 2002 Detroit Red Wings. In fact, the team likely could have competed with some NHL clubs.

Past and future NHL forwards included Olli Jokinen, Christian Ruuttu, Jarkko Ruutu, Marko Tuomainen, Johan Davidsson, and leading scorer Jan Caloun, among others. In addition to Timonen, the defense featured Brian Rafalski, Bob Halkidis, Jarno Kultanen, and Jere Karalahti. Tim Thomas was the starting goalie, posting a regular season 1.67 GAA and .947 save percentage, and he led IFK to an undefeated playoff record en route to the Finnish championship.

“I still think that was one of the greatest teams in Finnish history,” said Timonen. “I had a great time that year. You won’t see that kind of team again in Finland.”

Timonen clearly recalls how he discovered that the Predators wanted him: “I was playing in the 1998 World Championship in Switzerland, and one day I got a call from my agent. He said: ‘Mr. Poile wants to meet you.’ We went to Mr. Poile’s hotel, and I told him: “I’m ready to take whatever you give me. I believe I can play in this league, and I just need a chance to show it.” He said: “I’m going to give you that chance.'” The rest is history.

As well as successfully making the jump to the NHL, Timonen has also made a name for himself in international hockey. In fact, he’s suited up for Team Finland at some level every year since 1993, except for 1997 and 2000. So far, his results include three silver medals from the IIHF World Championships (1998, 1999, and 2001), a second-place finish at the 2004 World Cup (where he led all defensemen in scoring with a goal and five assists), and an Olympic bronze (1998) and silver (2006).

Not surprisingly, the two Olympic medals are the ones Timonen holds dearest. “In 1998, nobody expected us to win anything, and we made it to the bronze medal game,” he recalled. “We faced Canada, who had all their big names, and we beat them. We were such big underdogs in that game. I was the only defenseman on the roster who played in Europe, too, so it was big for me. I was originally going to be a seventh defenseman, an extra guy, but after the first game, I got my chance, and I played all the other games. Meanwhile, last year in Turin, the way we played the whole tournament was incredible. Losing the final against Sweden obviously hurt, but getting the silver medal was huge.”

What is the missing element Finland needs to win more international tournaments? “I think it’s experience. If you look at our team in the Olympics, we didn’t have many players who have won a lot of NHL playoff games or Stanley Cups. I’m sure in the future we’ll have more Finnish players in the NHL, and hopefully we’ll get more Stanley Cup winners. That will improve Finnish hockey as a whole.”

To improve his chances (and possibly those of Finnish rookie blueliner Mikko Lehtonen) for Stanley Cup glory, the Nashville captain will be preaching team discipline.

“Last year against San Jose, the biggest thing was that we took too many penalties,” said Timonen. “We gave them 5-on-3’s at least once or twice in every game. That’s too much. They’ve got so many great players, like Joe Thornton, so that killed us. The first thing that Barry told us in training camp this year was that our discipline has to be way better. Hopefully when it comes to the playoffs, we will show we learned our lesson.”

And if that comes to fruition?

“I think we really have a team that can beat anybody in this league. If we stay healthy and play the way we’ve been playing and go out there and have fun, we have a great chance to win the Stanley Cup.”

That kind of talk should be music to the ears of Nashville fans. Time to fill the Gaylord Entertainment Centre!

Five Timonen Tidbits

His best friend on the Predators is Scott Hartnell.
His 23-year-old brother Jussi debuted on defense this season with Philadelphia.
Timonen and his wife Johanna were among the 70,000 fans at a U2 concert in Rome in 2005.
He enjoys dining out with his wife at Morton’s and taking his two children swimming.
His favorite cartoon character is Spider-Man.