Tim Thomas: Will It Require Another Stanley Cup To Keep Him In Boston?

Goaltender Tim Thomas is slated to take a $2 million pay cut in 2012-13, the final year of his contract with the Boston Bruins. Lately, he has already endured a downturn in save percentage and winning percentage, which some observers are swift to attribute to a concomitant flurry of off-ice controversy.

The credibility of those claims is difficult to buy, especially with the added knowledge that Thomas has harbored a less-than-team-oriented attitude since he became a full-time NHL starter in 2006-07. Yet still, Thomas unlocked a safe stocked with contentious political and social commentary as soon as he opted out of the defending Stanley Cup champions’ visit to the White House in January.

There might be no difference between now and the previous five years in terms of Thomas’ personality or its internal impact on the Bruins’ dressing room. But there is a night-and-day contrast in terms of public knowledge and the scrutiny it draws.

Whether they root for him in the hockey arena, the political arena, both or neither, NHL fans now know Thomas in a twofold sense. But that should not be the foremost concern for general manager Peter Chiarelli and the rest of the Boston front office.

Instead, the goalie’s latest head-turning remark in the wake of a tough loss to the New York Rangers should have his employers and fans questioning the Thomas-Bruins relationship beyond this season.

Thomas’ response to a shortcoming against this year’s top dog of the Eastern Conference was practically a 180-degree pivot away from his defiance when his team trailed last year’s President’s Trophy winner from Vancouver.

When Canucks’ stopper Roberto Luongo, among others, questioned his unique style, Thomas spoke the most compellingly with fewer words and fewer goals-against. He was subsequently rewarded with a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe Trophy and his second Vezina Trophy in three years.

When the Rangers wrested away a 4-3 decision on Sunday, Thomas spoke the most confusingly. He attributed his fatal bushel of errors to the notoriously poor lighting in Madison Square Garden, which has been a plain fact since before his NHL debut in 2002. (That, by the way, happened to be a victory over Edmonton in a comparably dark venue.)

Not so surprisingly, in their subsequent outing against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins’ strike-force needed to take relentless charge en route to a come-from-behind 5-4 victory.

This is the blue-collar backstop who bounced around nine different minor pro cities just to reach The Show, put a stamp on his late bloom with the aforementioned hardware and spent the first half of this season resisting the effects of a short summer and post-title hangover. And now he is suddenly making ludicrous excuses for an unfavorable result?

It is not the torrential influx of three-goal, four-goal and sub-.900 save percentages on his game log that should be tied in to Thomas’ recent off-ice headlines. Rather, it is his handling of on-ice adversity that should be tied in with the Bruins’ handling of Thomas’ newly unveiled double-life.

The day of the White House visit, team president Cam Neely was swift to issue a classic disclaimer, citing Thomas’ decision and viewpoints as his and his alone. No harm intended there, but Thomas may not necessarily interpret it that way.

Thomas usually thrives when he is peeved, but this is not an adversary or a third party from the ninth floor questioning his aptitude or approach to the game. This was his employer struggling to suppress a fire he had started off the ice.

And while both are currently injured, the 24-year-old Tuukka Rask and 25-year-old Anton Khudobin are waiting on the bench and in Providence, respectively. Thomas could not be blamed if he feels as if he is being subtly ushered out, much like he did two years ago before turning in a record-setting, banner campaign.

But between Rask’s injury last Saturday and the emergency signing of rental Marty Turco, Thomas did anything but embrace the prospective challenge of an accelerated workload in the homestretch. He did anything but enact the same unmatched mental toughness that backboned the Bruins to a title last spring and lifted them from the cellar to the summit of the standings this past November.

It would be logical enough to blame age and residual wear-and-tear if Thomas sputters this spring. But because of his Sunday remarks, another explanation is now in play.

Depending on Rask’s post-injury condition, the Bruins will likely need to rely on Thomas in defense of their championship. A failure to return to the final frontier, let alone claim another Cup, could thus detonate an already straining relationship.

Thomas will turn 38 soon. He will soon rake in $3 million in a season as opposed to the $5 million he is accumulating this year. Rask and Khudobin will soon be ready to assume a full-time NHL gig, whether that means stepping into a bona fide starting position or at least dressing for the majority of the 82-game schedule.

All of that, combined with the recent sociopolitical sideshow, will explain everything if, in the upcoming playoffs, Thomas plays and pouts like he did in New York on Sunday. That, in turn, will rapidly dry up Chiarelli and Co.’s interest in his services, which in every past postseason run have been important in the most desperate situations.

On the other hand, if Thomas paddles away all distracting, personal grudges and rows Boston to another deep run, he should be just as difficult to discharge as he was in 2011. Provided Turco gives him the right amount of rest in the homestretch, Thomas’ postseason performance should tell the Bruins’ management if he is worth another year.