Timo Helbling (born July 21, 1981) is a Swiss former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...

who played in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL) for

HC Davos Hockey Club Davos is a professional Swiss ice hockey club based in Davos, Switzerland. Davos plays in the National League (NL). The team is usually a strong force in the league and often bolster their roster with Swiss national team players a ...

Kloten Flyers EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the National League (NL). It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 year ...

, HC Lugano, HC Fribourg-Gottéron, SC Bern, EV Zug,

SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club chan ...

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times ...

of the Finish

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

, the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

and the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL). Helbling was originally drafted 162nd overall by the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

in the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talen ...

Playing career

As a youth, Helbling played in the 1995

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a team from

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

. Helbling was drafted in the 6th round, 162nd overall by the

in the

. In the 2005–06 season, Helbling played 60 games for the

Springfield Falcons The Springfield Falcons were a former ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center. In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ari ...

of the AHL before he was recalled to the

to make his NHL debut. Helbling signed with the

for the 2006–07 season, playing primarily with AHL affiliate, the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since ...

, before he was traded by the Capitals to the Sabres along with

Dainius Zubrus Dainius Gintas Zubrus (born June 16, 1978) is a Lithuanians, Lithuanian former professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger and Centre (ice hockey), centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL), the first Lithuanian to have ...

for a first round pick and Jiri Novotny on February 27, 2007. Helbling was then assigned to the affiliate of the Sabres, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, ...

. Following the season, Timo returned to his native Switzerland, signing with HC Lugano. But revoke his deal with HC Lugano and make remaining season contract with

contract includes trial period until Christmas brake. Helbling plays his first game in

on November 16, 2010. During the World Hockey Championships 2010 Helbling caused confusion by getting in an altercation with Germany's coaches after losing a game against them. After two seasons with HC Fribourg-Gottéron, Helbling was traded with a year remaining on his contract to fellow NLA club, SC Bern in exchange for

Ryan Gardner Ryan Gardner (born April 18, 1978) is a Canadian-born Swiss former professional ice hockey forward. He last played for HC Lugano, Fribourg-Gottéron, SC Bern, ZSC Lions and HC Ambrì-Piotta in the National League (NL). He won the Swiss national ...

on April 2, 2015. On September 11, 2017, Helbling was suspended for 6 games and fined CHF 5,400 for a hit on a referee during a game against

on September 8, 2017. On June 18, 2018, Helbling joined freshly promoted

on a one-year deal worth CHF 450,000. In the 2018-19 season, Helbling helped the Lakers remain in the NL, posting 1 goal and 4 points in 26 games before concluding his 621-game National League career at the conclusion of the season on April 9, 2019.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helbling, Timo 1981 births Living people SC Bern players HC Davos players HC Fribourg-Gottéron players Hershey Bears players Oulun Kärpät players HC Lugano players Milwaukee Admirals players Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players Rochester Americans players Springfield Falcons players Swiss ice hockey defencemen Tampa Bay Lightning players Washington Capitals players Windsor Spitfires players EV Zug players Sportspeople from Basel-Stadt