According to the Boston Herald, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli has fielded many phone calls from teams inquiring on goalie Tim Thomas, some for the simple purpose of reaching the cap floor and others pestering him with questions on whether or not Thomas is really sitting out.
Despite his ridiculous decision to take next season off, Thomas is still a big trade chip for the Bruins. A team looking to reach the cap floor, such as Colorado, Phoenix, Nashville, Winnipeg, or Columbus, could easily trade for the aging goalie, suspend him, and take on his cap hit without having to spend a dime. This would in turn free up $5M in cap space for the Bruins, which will be beneficial if the cap does indeed increase to $70.2M as it has been reported as the team will then have extra cap room to make a big move if they want to.
The only issue with this is that the Bruins won't get much in return for Thomas if they are simply trading him to free themselves from the cap hit. While Thomas has waived his No Trade Clause, it still doesn't appear that he will be coming back, despite my own opinions on the matter. However, if he does decide to come back and play next season, he will be a popular target for teams in need of goaltending. While he is old, Thomas is still an elite goalie and can play at a very high level. And let's face it, even if he wasn't, and he was just mediocre, there would still be a ton of teams calling about him. Desperation does crazy things to teams, and if Chiarelli can find a desperate team to trade with, he will be able to acquire a good, if not excellent, package in exchange.
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