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Kimmo Timonen’s Injury and What It Could Mean for the Chicago Blackhawks

By Melissa Peterson

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On Easter (4/5), in the game against the St. Louis Blues, the Blackhawks announced that defensemen Kimmo Timonen would not return to the game after a hit from St. Louis Blues Right Winger Ryan Reeves in the first period.

Here’s some footage of the hit:

It appears from the video that there could have been a boarding call on Reeves, and Timonen seems to go head first into the boards. He got back up and finished his shift before leaving to the locker room and not returning.

Following the game, Coach Quenneville stated that Timonen’s condition was “day to day” according to Eric Lear of BHTV (Blackhawks TV), and it was announced that David Rundblad would be in for him against Minnesota. It could be that because the Blackhawks have already clinched a playoff spot, management is playing it safe with potential injuries to reduce the chance of further damage (See: Brad Richards‘ upper body injury and the announcement he would take the final three games off). The Blackhawks are looking at some rather physical competition for their final three games in the Minnesota Wild, the St. Louis Blues and the Colorado Avalanche.

It could also wind up being something we just aren’t prepared for, like a longer-term issue, although it was announced that he was skating at practice Tuesday morning (So was Patrick Kane).

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There has been some questioning in Timonen’s return and if he was truly ready by a portion of the Blackhawks fan base who has found his play “lacking”. We could guess at a similar reaction from Q, who has cut the defensemen’s time almost in half since his first few appearances in early March, but his time had been back on the rise in the two games prior to this injury. But regardless of your opinion on Timomen, it does beg the question: Just who do we have for the remaining games before playoffs, and possibly leading into the playoffs, if we face injury?

Defensemen Trevor Van Riemsdyk was scheduled to be back in time for playoffs after his season haulting injury on November 16th. He had been skating with the Rockford IceHogs in preparation for his return, but is now out after a wrist injury that requires surgery scheduled on April 7th, leaving him out for 8 weeks.

Chicago had previously traded defensemen Adam Clendening to the Vancouver Canucks, Klas Dahlbeck to the Arizona Coyotes as well as Tim Erixon to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Remaining that have set foot on Chicago ice this season are Kyle Cumiskey and David Rundblad. Cumiskey has played seven games and seen approximately 13.4 minutes of ice time on average each game this season. Since his NHL debut with the Colorado Avalanche in the 2006-2007 season, Cumiskey has played 139 NHL games. Runblad has played 46 games but seen only 12.6 minutes of ice time on average each game this season. Since his NHL debut in the 2011-2012 season with the Ottawa Senators, Rundblad has played 101 NHL games.

Will either of them see playoff ice? Do you think either should even without an injury to a fellow teammate?

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