Reigning Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots in Boston's 2-1 loss to Philadelphia Thursday night. Thomas led the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup since 1972 in record breaking fashion last season but will be hardpressed to repeat that feat this season. Tuukka Rask should see more action this year in nets for the Bruins but Thomas still figures to perform as a top tier fantasy goaltender.

Tim Thomas will likely get Thursday's start against Philadelphia in Boston's home opener. Tuukka Rask could be between the pipes on Saturday against Tampa Bay, as he is expected to be utilized more this season to give Thomas more periods of rest. "The one thing that'\'s pretty obvious is that with the amount of games we played last year, and where Tim is during his career, we've got to make sure we think about getting him his proper rest if we want to get the same performance from him," said coach Claude Julien. "Will Tuukka play a bigger role? We hope so. But that's not going to take anything away from the strength of our team. If anything, it will only make it better and give us some durability." The Bruins want to avoid any side effects from winning the Stanley Cup and if Rask can get hot then he could put together a string of starts.

Tim Thomas will play between the pipes in the Bruins' final preseason game on Saturday. The game should help Thomas get ready for the preseason opener on October 6th. Thomas is the obvious choice to begin the season as the team's starting goaltender, but backup netminder Tuukka Rask should also get a healthy amount of playing time.

Tim Thomas will make his preseason debut on Friday. Thomas is coming off of a Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winning season, so it goes without saying that he'll start the season as the Bruins' number one goaltender. However, even though Thomas hasn't started in more than 55 games in any of his last three seasons, despite winning two Vezina Trophies in that span. That's fine for Boston, who have a superb backup in Tuukka Rask, but it keeps Thomas from being one of the league's top goalies from a fantasy perspective.

Tim Thomas brought the Stanley Cup to Vermont on Saturday. The Davidson, Michigan native played for four years at Vermont (alongside Martin St-Louis) and led the team to back-to-back trips to the NCAA tournament and the school's first Frozen Four in 1996. Thomas also runs a summer hockey program in the area. Thomas led the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup since 1972 in record breaking fashion but will be hardpressed to repeat that feat this season. Tuukka Rask should see more action this year in nets for the Bruins but Thomas still figures to be drafted as a top 5 fantasy goaltender pick.

The Boston Bruins aren't planning to make a big splash during the free agency period. "I'm a little cautious going into this market," said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. "There's not the usual supply there normally is. The demand is greater because of the cap floor and because teams have to spend." As Chiarelli hinted at, the market seems to lend itself to teams overspending on when the free agent period opens on Friday. Fortunately, Chiarelli has very little incentive to get in on the madness. The vast majority of his Stanley Cup winning team will return for the 2011-12 season.

Tim Thomas won his second Vezina Trophy on Wednesday night. Thomas beat out Roberto Luongo and Pekka Rinne to win his second Vezina Trophy in three years. His incredible season ended with the Bruins hoisting the Stanley Cup. He finished the year with a 2.00 GAA and a record .938 save percentage.

Tim Thomas will likely add a Vezina Trophy to his collection of accolades this season at the NHL Awards Show on Wednesday night. "I've been fortunate to win the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup already this year," said the Boston netminder. "The Vezina is another trophy that's a huge honor to win. It would be icing on the cake, but we'll see; there's two other goalies here who had great years, too. It would mean a lot, it would be nice if it were to happen. The original goal I set myself last summer was to win the Vezina again. To be honest, I didn't start thinking about the Stanley Cup until later." Thomas is considered the favorite to take the honor over Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Nashville's Pekka Rinne.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli admitted that he explored the possibility of trading Tim Thomas before the start of the 2010-11 season. That really shouldn't come as a shock as, at the time, it looked like Tuukka Rask would serve as the team's starting goaltender and Thomas comes with a $5 million annual cap hit. "There were some calls in that and they kept him in the loop at all times," Chiarelli said. "He kept stressing he didn't want to leave. And I said 'I know. . . let's just look at this very briefly.' I know there are a lot of stories that flowed from it, but I can't stress enough the fact that Tim never wanted to leave." It is believed that Philadelphia was one of the top destinations for Thomas, if he was to be traded, but the two sides couldn't agree on fair value. That turned out to be particularly unfortunate for the Flyers, given their goaltending woes during the 2011 playoffs, but of course hindsight is 20/20.