Tim Thomas details the brain damage and injuries that forced him into retirement

In case you missed it last night, former Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas made an incredible rare public appearance as he, along with other members of the 2019 USA Hockey Hall of Fame were honoured prior to the Bruins and Washington Capitals game.

Check out Thomas dropping the puck with fellow inductees Krissy Wendell, Brian Gionta & Neal Henderson.

Check it out:

Crazy… Tim Thomas.

THE Tim Thomas?!?!?!

The one and only.

You know what? I’ve missed that smile…

Earlier this year Thomas broke his five year silence with the media during a conference call hosted by USA Hockey. You may recall that Thomas’ career ended under strange circumstances. First, the Bruins netminder refused to visit the White House with his Bruins teammates in protest of then U.S. President Barack Obama. Then, Thomas firmly aligned himself with the conservative-minded Tea Party. 

Thomas took the 2012-13 season off and issued a rambling statement online explaining his reasoning. Then, a year later he was back with… the Florida Panthers? It was a strange time, to say the least.

Since then though, Thomas has faded into history and hasn’t been really been heard from. So… what’s he been up to?

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan caught up with Thomas and managed to get some candid quotes from him, specifically when it comes to the difficulty he had with concussions and post-concussion syndrome at the end of his NHL career.

Check it out:

“I couldn’t communicate with anybody for a few years,” Thomas told Kaplan. “I didn’t call my dad. I didn’t talk to anybody. There was a time period, yeah, where I hated the game, so to speak. I didn’t sit there and [say] I hate it. My rebound effect was like, this wasn’t worth it.”

Honestly… that’s heartbreaking.

Thomas described a concussion that he suffered in December, 2013 while with the Panthers, the one that ultimately ended his career and… honestly it’s difficult to read.

“I woke up the next morning after it and I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat, where I wanted to go,” Thomas said. “I couldn’t plan a schedule. I survived following the team schedule the rest of the year and just made it through that season.”

“On the ice, I was able to be like 97 percent maybe, 95 percent of what I was before, but off the ice, like I said, I still can’t choose,” Thomas said. “I’m so much better, but I wake up every day and basically I have to reorder everything in my mind for the first couple hours of the day and then make a list and try to make some choices to get some stuff done.”

Whatever your thoughts are on Thomas and how things went down with the Bruins, it was always clear that the guy just LOVED playing hockey. His acrobatic style was so damn entertaining and he always seemed to have a smile on his face.

Here’s hoping that Timmy can put his concussion problems behind him and re-embrace the game that we know, deep down, he loves so much. Welcome back, Timmy!