It would've been very easy for the entire NHL to write off Tim Thomas as a career European goaltender after the way his career began. Thomas was an excellent goalie at the University of Vermont, but he bounced around the North American minor leagues and Europe for the next five seasons before the Boston Bruins took a chance on him. The rest, as they say, is history.
Thomas had a great first season with the Providence Bruins, and even played four games in the NHL. The following season was his true breakout, as he stayed in the American Hockey League for the entirety and posted a .941 save percentage over 43 games.
Thomas was at risk of losing his momentum as the following season was the 2024-25 lockout, but he returned to Finland to play for Jokerit and had an even better season, recording a 34-13-7 record with a 1.58 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage. Which was no small feat considering alot of NHL players went to Europe during the lockout to stay sharp.
The American goaltender returned to Providence the following season and left no doubt that he was starting to build something special with his career. It might have been later than he would've liked, but it was undeniable that Thomas could find success with the big club, which led the front office to give him the opportunity to hold the net in the second half of the season.
Thomas would never play another game with Providence. He played the next six seasons in Boston, with his best coming, as most know, in the 2010-11 season when he put the team on his back and carried them to a Stanley Cup. He had a .938 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average in the regular season, before slightly improving those numbers in the postseason with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage.
It takes a special playoff season to compile a highlight reel worthy enough of being posted on YouTube. It takes an especially amazing postseason to have that highlight reel be six minutes long. That's just a glimpse into how special that Spring was for Bruins fans.
It nearly never happened if Thomas had accepted his fate and stayed in Europe 10 years earlier. Would Tuukka Rask have been able to carry the Bruins to that championship in his fifth pro season? He is underlooked as already being a special goaltender during that run, but what Thomas was able to do might not have been replicated at that point in Rask's career.
It's unclear who in the front office had the foresight to find Thomas in 2002-03, but it set the Bruins up for nearly a decade with some of the best and most exciting goaltending this generation has seen.