During a press conference on the eve of training camp in Voorhees, New Jersey yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers confirmed the diagnosis that key defenseman and alternate captain Kimmo Timonen is suffering from blood clots in his lungs and leg.
The 15-year NHL veteran and former Nashville Predator was originally hospitalized in his native Finland due to pain in his chest and a blood clot in his right calf.
"I'll try to put this in a way where you can understand where we are," the doctor then told the 39-year-old. "People just die from this kind of stuff."
With plans already for this to be his final season as an active NHL player, Timonen's status as a Flyer is in ever increasing doubt moving forward, even though the player and team wouldn't completely rule out a return.
"I wish we were here to announce that Kimmo is here to continue his career, but we're gonna announce neither," general manager Ron Hextall said. "We've been through a process with our medical staff and our doctors where we really don't have any definitive answers."
Timonen, whose mother and brothers suffer from the same condition now affecting him, is a four-time All-Star and four-time Olympian.
The disorder can "lead to a type of blood clot known as deep-vein thrombosis in arms and legs. A mild case of protein C deficiency affects 1 in 500 people," according to the National Institute of Health.
Timonen will return to see doctors in early 2015 with the hopes that CT scans will reveal the disappearance of the clots.
"We don't know. Nobody knows. My desire is obviously I want to play, but the chance of me playing is really slim. That's the fact. I'm ready to wait that chance and see how I feel if I have those clots in time...who knows when."
Like many professional athletes, Timonen has had a hard time coming to terms with the diagnosis.
"You have to take the facts," Timonen said. "There's nothing you can do. There's nothing. I'm just trying to stay in shape moving forward and see if there's a chance for me to come back, which is kind of slim, but I still keep that little chance in my mind that there might be a chance."
The Flyers moved quickly to sign defenseman Michael Del Zotto, most recently of the New York Rangers, after initially learning of the diagnosis, but the team will be hard pressed to replace the consistent and steadying presence Timonen brought to their blueline.