The Tim Thomas Quagmire

Tim Thomas has an excellent chance of winning the Vezina Trophy this season and would become the first Bruins goaltender to garner that honor since Peter Peeters in 1983. Before Peeters bringing home the hardware, Bruins fans would have look back all the way to Frank Brimsek in 1942 to see the hometown goalie recognized as the league’s best. That’s right, even Gerry Cheevers and Andy Moog don’t have that on their hockey resume.

Thomas, a guy that scrapped his way into the league by playing in North American minor league outposts and roughly 4,000 miles away from Boston in Finland, is undoubtedly a feel-good story. Bruins fans recognize him as one of their own, a long-shot everyman wearing several dozen pounds of equipment, not backing down from 100 mph slap shots and flailing his body across the crease to make seemingly miraculous saves.

Unfortunately, for Thomas (and Bruins fans), he has a chink in his armor that’s relatively benign over the course of the long regular season but could prove to be fatal during the playoffs—inconsistency and soft goals. This is not a knee-jerk reaction to Alexander Semin’s 70-footer in overtime last Saturday. Moments like that will happen from time to time with every goaltender, such as Ted Donato beating the great Patrick Roy in the ’94 playoffs.

Yes, Tim Thomas can win 35 regular season games for the Bruins but can he win 16 playoff games in the spring against top-notch opponents every other night? My hunch is that his tendency to wear down after 10 or so games, leaving gratuitous rebounds and surrendering back-breaking soft goals are a recipe for playoff elimination. It may not be in the first round, but sooner or later Thomas’ negatives will be the root cause of yet another playoff failure. For instance, say the Bruins draw the Rangers in the first round and, because of inadequate goaltending, drop a game or possibly two on home ice. The Rangers and their fans would be primed for the kill, much like the Sabres in ’93 against the Bruins. Sure, this could even happen with Ken Dryden circa 1976 in net, but the odds are more probable to a Thomas hockey hiccup.

There is, however, encouraging news for the Bruins to make a deep playoff run this spring. The organization’s other two top goalies, Manny Fernandez and Tuuka Rask, play in a far more conservative manner which might be more conducive to a long and successful playoff run. They won’t look as acrobatic as Thomas, but they both have proven, Fernandez more so, the ability to win in the NHL.

I’ll even take it one step further and add that the team should seriously consider “selling high” on Thomas, a free agent after this season, at Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline. Perhaps a team with Stanley Cup aspirations this year might be seduced by Thomas’ sexy numbers and consider him the missing piece of their arsenal.

In reality, I don’t think Chiarelli will deal Thomas, but, remember, as much as a feel-good story Tim Thomas rightfully is, winning the Stanley Cup is an even better one.