Tim Thomas Will Take a Year Off

Tim Thomas will not return to hockey next season. Whether its because of a year long lockout or because he announced on facebook that he was going to take a year off to reconnect with the, "three f's" that he has neglected over his long journey in the NHL. What is certain, is he won't be playing for the Bruins or for any team in the NHL. The three f's that Thomas was referring to when he posted the message on his official Facebook page are Faith, Family, and Friends. He went on to mention how he will workout very hard on his time off and make a return to the NHL at the age of 39. Thomas has 1 year left on his contract with the Bruins and his cap hit is around $5 million. Since this announcement, the Bruins will either have to "suspend" him so they don't have to pay his contract and don't have to suffer his cap space hit too. The Bruins are left with Tukka Rask and Anton Khudobin as their goalies. Thomas has been fairly controversial as of late after he posted a message on his facebook page to fans about his decision to skip the Bruins visit to see President Obama at the whitehouse to celebrate their 2010-2011 Stanley Cup victory. Thomas has been exposed as a pretty odd guy with his stunts this year. He is also dreaming if he thinks he can take a full season off and return to the NHL. He may try to return for the 2013-2014 season but I don't believe he will physically be able to make a return and being that the 2012-2013 season was the last on his contract, the Bruins will not want to resign him and neither will any other NHL teams. A classic example of a 40 year old goalie bust was Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson. He will be too risky to sign because of his age and the fact that he will not have played an NHL game in over a year. Expect Tim Thomas' last NHL game to be a devastng loss in overtime of game 7 in the 1st round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Follow me on twitter at @capsfanatic_wvu. Till next time, Will