Kimmo Timonen contract extension near, according to reports

Update: It's official.

As first reported by .... uh, Eklund ... and confirmed later by various media outlets, the Flyers are prepared to sign Kimmo Timonen to a new one-year deal for the 2013-14 season. It'll be worth $6 million.

Personally, I probably would have waited at least another month or two to see whether or not the 37-year-old lasts through this shortened season, but it's hard to find much room to complain when the Flyers are locking up a guy like Kimmo for another year. Even at his age and with the amount of time he plays, he's still bene up to speed so far this season and has still been the dependable hand he's always been on the blueline.

Kimmo has thought about retirement in recent years, but apparently isn't ready to hang them up just yet. He's expressed in the past the desire to retire as a Flyer and that will likely be the case, and it's very possible -- likely? -- that next season will be his final year.

Timonen brings a lot of other elements to the locker room as well, and on a young team, those can't be overlooked. But ultimately, he's not worth the $6 million unless he's healthy and on the ice every night. The Flyers seem confident that will be the case at least until the summer of 2014.

If the $6 million figure is accurate (no reason to believe it's not), the Flyers will have roughly $62 million committed against next year's cap, which will be set at $64.3 million.