from Sarah Kwak of Sports Illustrated,

​Still, his symptoms didn’t cause him much concern. Even when his friend diagnosed the blood clot in his calf, Timonen says he needed some persuading to undergo a chest scan. “I’m so glad he talked me into it,” he says.

The scan revealed clots in both of Timonen’s lungs. They had most likely broken off the one in his calf, traveled up through his blood stream and pumped through his heart before becoming lodged in the smaller vessels of the lungs. Such clots are known as pulmonary emboli. They prevent blood from circulating through the lungs, and in some circumstances, they can lead to death....

It’s a scary situation that has affected NHLers such Jed Ortmeyer (in 2006), Panthers winger Tomas Fleischmann (in 2011) and recently sidelined Penguins winger Pascal Dupuis in January and then again last month. Just this week, 38-year-old Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun announced his retirement after having missed much of the 2013-14 season with blood clots that nearly killed him. They were Vokoun's second brush with the affliction. He was diagnosed with one in his pelvis in 2006.

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