Great article from Sean Shapiro at the Athletic:
Bruins legend Tim Thomas takes a step back into hockey world: 'I'm looking to reconnect'
It’s the morning of Tim Thomas’s 47th birthday and the former Stanley Cup champion is doing something he doesn’t do: laughing and talking hockey with someone who isn’t a close friend or confidant.
Our conversation is meant to be about the impending launch of Thomas’s first non-fungible token (NFT).
But, for Thomas, this is about more than the latest trend in sports memorabilia and crypto technology. It’s about his gradual re-emergence in the hockey world — a world he sat atop just a decade ago but has actively avoided in recent years.
Thomas didn’t become a starting goalie in the NHL until his 30s. As a 37-year-old, he became the oldest winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy when the Boston Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2011. Just three years later, after the 2014 IIHF World Championships in Belarus, he retired without warning and fell off the hockey map.
He didn’t just leave the game behind; he was doing everything in his power to avoid the sport altogether.
Thomas stopped talking to former teammates, shrinking his contact list to as few as five people. He removed any reminders of his playing career: no photos on the wall, no hockey on TV, no signs of a career of which most would have been proud.
Bruins legend Tim Thomas takes a step back into hockey world: 'I'm looking to reconnect'
It’s the morning of Tim Thomas’s 47th birthday and the former Stanley Cup champion is doing something he doesn’t do: laughing and talking hockey with someone who isn’t a close friend or confidant.
Our conversation is meant to be about the impending launch of Thomas’s first non-fungible token (NFT).
But, for Thomas, this is about more than the latest trend in sports memorabilia and crypto technology. It’s about his gradual re-emergence in the hockey world — a world he sat atop just a decade ago but has actively avoided in recent years.
Thomas didn’t become a starting goalie in the NHL until his 30s. As a 37-year-old, he became the oldest winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy when the Boston Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2011. Just three years later, after the 2014 IIHF World Championships in Belarus, he retired without warning and fell off the hockey map.
He didn’t just leave the game behind; he was doing everything in his power to avoid the sport altogether.
Thomas stopped talking to former teammates, shrinking his contact list to as few as five people. He removed any reminders of his playing career: no photos on the wall, no hockey on TV, no signs of a career of which most would have been proud.
