Blackhawks Acquire Kimmo Timonen

steve laidlaw

2015-02-28

KimmoTimonen

Fantasy Impact: The Blackhawks acquire Kimmo Timonen from the Flyers in exchange for draft picks.

The Blackhawks get: a tremendous veteran defenseman with a great deal of playoff experience and puck-moving ability. He also hasn't played this season due to a blood clot issue so his conditioning may be in question.

The Flyers get: draft picks in exchange for an expiring deal and the chance to right by one of their long-time warriors by sending him to a contender. That may not make them better today but it won't hurt them when the time comes to negotiate with another free agent. Even if the players didn't take notice, the agents sure did.

Timonen might challenge Keith or Seabrook for power play time but don't plan on it since we don't know his level of fitness. He will block David Rundblad who may not even skate once Johnny Oduya returns and this also might keep promising defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk from regaining a roster spot.

Back in Philadelphia, Timonen no longer looms as a threat to Michael Del Zotto's minutes. He is free to play out his imperfect game in peace and remain a fantasy relevant defenseman on a bad team. Not a pretty role but someone's got to fill it!

Players this helps, in order:

Michael Del Zotto

Corey Crawford

Kimmo Timonen

Most Blackhawks in general although they took a bigger hit when Kane went down

Players this hurts, in order:

David Rundblad

Trevor van Riemsdyk

Brent Seabrook

Duncan Keith