An Interview with Kimmo Timonen: on making the NHL from Europe, and much more

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesI recently found myself re-watching some Flyers highlights from years old. Thanks to YouTube, I was able to find games from 1994-95, 1996-97, 2001-02, and 2003-04. These games are mostly against the Rangers during their Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky (briefly), and Brian Leetch era, and they bring back waves of nostalgia. In the earliest games, you can still see the glow from the lights inside the Spectrum as Eric Lindros and company defeat Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres. Action then moves to the “Core States” Center, where Lindros and company face the New York Rangers in the Conference Finals. However, both of those series were before my time, as I was born shortly after the Flyers were swept by the Red Wings. The games then move into my time growing up, around when I was solidified in my fandom. Everybody knows the big names of those Flyers teams; Jeremy Roenick, Mark Recchi, Simon Gagne, and Keith Primeau were all faces of the franchise. However, looking back on those teams, there are a lot of forgotten players. Branko Radivojevic (7 NHL seasons), Radovan Somik (2 NHL seasons), and Stefan Ruzicka (3 NHL seasons) all played for the Flyers, having made the team coming from Europe. This got me thinking about NHL players coming to North America from Europe, and about the different paths they take to get there.

…