Very Quick Thoughts on Tim Thomas

Boston Bruins Goaltender Tim Thomas has now confirmed that he is taking a year off from hockey in order to spend the next year ‘reconnecting with… Friends, Family and Faith’.

If he feels he needs a year away to be closer to his friends and family, or if he has specific family issues with which to deal, this is no different than someone taking a year off any job for parental or family leave. Good on him for having his priorities in order and good luck to him

However…

He has a year remaining (which would pay him $5 million) in his current contract, which features a no-trade clause that expires on July 1. By declaring that he is taking a sabbatical, Thomas has put the Bruins in the position where, if they were going to try to trade him, they would essentially have to give the other team permission to talk to him prior to finalizing the deal to find out whether he was going to report. Thomas has essentially given himself a veto on any potential trade destination.

If that is his ploy, then it is fairly ingenious, if beyond the spirit of his current contract. It also places the Bruins in the position of deciding whether they want to take the $5 million cap hit for 2012-13 in order to not have Thomas play for an opponent by granting him his wish to be closer to friends and family.

If this is it for Thomas in Boston, leading the Bruins to the 2011-12 Stanley Cup is obviously at the top of his legacy.  That being said, he is 38; out of the last four seasons, he has given the Bruins two outstanding seasons, and two so-so ones (2009-10 and 2011-12).  This past year, for the better part of the second half, he looked fatigued.  Then again, most of the team did.  Maybe going with Tukka Rask and Anton Khudobin as the goaltending tandem next year is the change that the team needs to shake out this year's doldrums.  In any event, if this is the end of the Thomas-Bruins relationship, it is a strange one.  At least we have been spared any beer and fried chicken stories...

(And, incidendentally, because you were wondering, Thomas is one of the last two Québec Nordiques draft picks still playing in the NHL.  The other is Milan Hejduk...)