Reunion week is now kind of a bust. The Boston Bruins had a murders row of narrative enablers lined up as the team was scheduled to face three-consecutive games worth of former players. The slate officially began on Tuesday night as Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars came to town.
Tim Thomas ruins reunion week, unlikely to play against Bruins
The Boston Bruins were going to host three straight opponents with former players on their roster. The crown jewel was the return of Tim Thomas. Now, that’s unlikely to happen.
Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
Next up was supposed to be Tim Thomas and the Florida Panthers. However, Thomas is not expected to be available for his Boston homecoming as he is still dealing with an unidentified lower-body injury sustained against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 22. George Richards of the Miami Herald tweets that the Panthers are hopeful that Thomas will be able to return sometime this weekend.
But we all really wanted to see him play against the Bruins.
Thomas became a divisive figure at the end of his tenure, which was highlighted by his choice to skip the team's visit to the White House and his decision to take a year-long sabbatical to focus on his personal life. Boston ultimately traded him to the New York Islanders, where he never played a game. After the year off, Thomas accepted a professional tryout contract with Florida and ultimately agreed to a standard player contract.
He has already faced the Bruins this season, a 3-2 loss that was played in Florida. Considering how much Thomas contributed to the Boston franchise during his tenure, it would have been interesting to see how he would have been received by the Bruins fans.
Now we’ll have to wait until the end of January.
Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs will close out the week when they come to Boston on Saturday night. Wonder if the Boston faithful will still chant "Thank You Phil!" now that Seguin has been traded to Dallas...
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