Kimmo Timonen Loses Spot on Top Power Play Unit

VOORHEES – It might be difficult to tell an NHL veteran of 1,023 games across 15 seasons that he’s off the team’s top power-play unit. When that player is a four-time Olympian and four-time All-Star, it’s even tougher.

At 38 years old, Kimmo Timonen is OK with the decision.

“I’m mad about it, yeah,” said Timonen, who was replaced on the first unit by Mark Streit. “I can’t lie to you. It’s one of those things that if you are not mad about it, you don’t care. And I am not mad about the guys, I am not mad about the coach, I am just mad about myself. I have to be better out there. That’s all.”

Timonen leads all Flyers in giveaways with nine. The next-highest is Streit with six. Between missed passes and a noticeable decrease in his skating speed, Timonen is not the player he once was and he says it’s “a big deal.”

“I am an old-school type of guy and I always feel you have to earn your spot on a power play or penalty-killing,” the Finnish defenseman said. “And when you get taken out of a power play, I take that as, ‘You have to be better.’ Maybe I am, like I said, a little old-school about it, but that’s a message that I have to play better.”

That was the intent for coach Craig Berube, although he said it doesn’t just stop with Timonen.

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