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Before I write about what I feel 'The Curse of Tim Thomas' actually is, I want to express how great it feels to write for this blog again. Ever go home after a long, frustrating day of work and slip on something comfortable? For me, it would be my green and black mesh shorts. I don't know what it is, but once the jeans come off and the shorts come on, everything is right once more. It could be a sign of peace or just stripping the day away for something comfortable, but whatever it is it works. That's Something's Bruin to me. I left it under frustration and the weight of my life, but as always, they are my shorts. It's good to be back.
Enough about my comfy shorts though, it's time to talk about hockey. As you (hopefully) have noticed, the Bruins have made some changes to their roster this offseason. From signing their RFAs like Johnny Boychuk and Mark Stuart, trading for Nathan Horton, to retaining trade pieces like Dennis Sidenberg and even drafting some kid named Tyler Something-Something-Twilight. Hell, this fanbase has even had to endure Marc Savard trade rumors and quite possible the worst, most ridiculous reason why he will be traded (#5).
With all that said however, there remains one name on this roster that should not be there by opening night. That name is Tim Thomas.
For those of you rolling your eyes at another "Greg Ezell hating on Tim Thomas" entry, stop it. This has nothing to do with Tim Thomas the player, it has everything to do with Tim Thomas' inflated and outrageous contract. You know the one I'm talking about right? The one where Tim Thomas, who is now our backup goaltender, will make $5M a season and also has a NMC/NTC. Yeah, that's the contract we're talking about.
The moment the Thomas contract was announced, I shook my head in bewilderment. How can you give relatively unproven goaltender a long-term contract with a no trade/no movement clause? Before everyone starts getting all up in arms about the fact I called him "unproven", look at the numbers. Thomas has only played 60+ games once with the Bruins, 55+ games once and only 50+ games once. If I'm paying my goaltender $5M, I expect 60-65 starts a season consistently. Another number I have an issue with is 36. Thomas will be 36 when the puck drops in October and his window of performance is beginning to close.
As fans, we're very aware of how physically demanding the goaltender position is. After an injury-plagued season as well as being ousted as the #1 goaltender, what has lead us to believe that Thomas will come back and be able to play those types of games again at a consistent basis. How many times was Thomas pulled last season? I believe that number is 7, most of them after January 1, 2010. There were times where Thomas looked awful (games against Ottawa come to mind) and let in some goalies he had no business letting in.
To be fair, I'm not calling for Thomas to be exiled to some island so he can wrestle with a 10-story gorilla, but I do feel that he is no longer of use to the Bruins. Boston currently has $1.68M of salary cap space left with 18 players on their roster (this does not include Seguin by the way). Thomas' cap hit of $5M would be a HUGE relief on the Bruins as they could sign Seguin and still grab a back-up goalie floating around at a much cheaper price. Unfortunately though, not many teams are willing to take up a contract on an aging goalie.
I believe that this contract is one of the worst moves Chiarelli made during his tenure with the Bruins. With Tuukka Rask waiting in the wings and eventually taking over the top spot, this contract seemed like a rushed decision, something Chiarelli seems to be known for (hello Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic extensions).
Overall, this contract needs to go. With each passing day Thomas gets older and makes this contract even worse. This is the type of NHL contract that can restrict a team from achieving the level of talent they deserve. Although you may just think I'm a Thomas hater, ask New York Islanders fans how they feel about their Rick DiPietro contract situation...
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Against Ottawa he has a 16-7-2 record, a .932 save percent, 4 shutouts and a 2.10 GAA. With stats like that the offense has to be complete shit (and it was!) to lose.
Can't argue too much with the rest of it, except Dipietro is on LTIR most of the time so he's not even taking up cap space.