I saw him in his greatest moment last summer, from the third row at Rogers Arena when he did a lap with the Cup (and about 50 feet with the Conn Smythe, which he could barely lift), and was glad he was an American, but his actions when the Bruins were invited to the White House were improper, unprofessional, and embarrassing for ALL Americans.

No great loss. He’s no Patrick Roy.

-QG

Thanks for the link. I’m still curious what the CBA says if the player is able to play and chooses not to? It seems like it’s not the teams fault the player is able to play but won’t fulfill his contract. That whole rule seems to designed to keep teams from signing older player to long contracts and then buying them out early. If the player is under contract and just chooses not to play, why is the burden on the team?

The only possible move that will happen is Boston MIGHT be able to trade him to a team that is bellow the cap floor and needs some filler space. That way the team will have $5 million in cap hit, but not have to actually pay out that money since they can suspend Thomas. Its a huge win for a poor team, but its a stretch if Boston can find anyone willing to do that.

This sums it up for us.

1. First of all, this is going to cost him $5 million AND likely cost him what was left of his NHL career.

2. While this is going to cost Boston $5 million in dead cap space, its not the end of the world for them. In fact, it actually takes care of the Rask issue and he can finally take over as the number one.

3. Thomas is a red neck hick playing Boston with an extreme conservative view of things. He would have to be a complete idiot to think people in Boston of all places would go along with his crazy crap.

Many insiders say that he is a loner in the locker room and not one of the guys. If the Bruins didn’t have Tuukka, I’d be a bit more upset. They can also use Savard’s contract for salary cap relief against the Thomas contract. This will hurt because they could have used the Savard contract for trade deadline reinforcements.

Okay, now some criticism for Thomas. I do believe that he is selfish. He did not even wish the Bruins or Tuukka good luck for the next season. Nobody’s expected him to act with the class of Lidstrom. But more should have been expected than a self serving Facebook page, promotion and all. The 2010-11 message was clear when he ditched the B’s facemask for the white one that he was upset that Tuukka beat him out at the end of 2009-10. If he felt entitled, too bad. At best for 2012-13, he would have split time evenly with Rask. He was also outplayed in the playoffs by the Caps goalie. It’s tough to say. But it’s true. Too many soft goals to go with the sparkling saves.

Bruins fans are grateful to Tim Thomas for his great Cup run. But this was headed for a bad ending and it wound up being even worse than that.

if he was such a great guy as many are portraying him out to be, he would tell the bruins he has no intentions of fulfilling the rest of his contract and call it a wash so the bruins wouldn’t be hand cuffed with a $5 million cap hit. he must not care for his team mates much because in the end it’s the guy’s on the ice he’s screwing the most. it’s like quitting your job without two weeks notice and thinking your screwing over the company when in reality its your co-workers who end up getting dumped with the extra workload you left behind.

the guys a narcissistic nut job, his logic makes ed belfour look like Spock and his team camaraderie makes sean avery look like stevie y. go play tennis, pal!

http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=236

Thomas signed his contract BEFORE he was 35…days before. If he retires the cap hit should be gone. I’m not sure what happens if he is suspended though…

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/04/thomas_inks_new.html

“Thomas was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. According to a source in the Bruins front office, part of what was driving the club to get the deal done now is that fact that Thomas will turn 35 years old on April 15.

When a player signs a new deal after his 35th birthday, per the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), although he can be bought out (at a two-thirds reduction in pay), his cap number can not be deleted from the club’s salary commitments.”

This is a major story, and a move that is intended to screw the team, and by default his teammates & fans.
And why, beacause the Bruins had the audacity to explore trading him a couple years ago?
F- him.

I’m a Bruins season ticket holder, and will be forever grateful to TT for the 2011 playoff run, but this is an extremely selfish act. Even more selfish than skipping the White House visit, which he should have done out of respect to his teammates and the office of the president. The man signed a contract and he should play it out.
I rarely side with teams over individual players when it comes to contract issues, but if the Bruins can’t walk away from this without paying him, he shouldn’t be allowed to walk away & negatively affect the team while doing so.

F@#$ him.