BOSTON -- While there is more than enough passionate discourse to go around on Tim Thomas decision to go public with his political leanings, there isnt much emanating from the Bruins dressing room.
The greatest slice of the annoyance pie may stem from simply answering questions about their goaltenders hot political takessomething Milan Lucic was asked to do Thursday while hosting a team-sponsored charity event that had nothing to do with Thomas or politics of any kind.
There arent many fellow political activists in the making inside the Bs dressing room aside from the environmentally conscious Andrew Ference, and there are very few Bruins players taking part in the social media networks. Tyler Seguin, Steve Kampfer, Brad Marchand and Zach Hamill are the only Bruins players with twitter accounts that have worn the Bs sweater this season. That lessens the impact within the Bs dressing room and had teammates reiterating their indifference toward Thomas Facebook posts.
It doesnt matter whether its about President Obamas domestic policy or the latest Ronald Reagan quote to pop up on his public Facebook page, guys like Lucic dont take much of an active interest in it at all.
I dont have Facebook so I only hear that from you guys, said Lucic when asked if the Thomas flap was a distraction. He has his own personal views on things. He felt strongly in sharing it. He is who he is. We have to accept him for who he is. His main job for usand as a teammateis to be a good goaltender.
The relationship between the two of us is as teammates and whatever he does in his own personal life is his own business. Obviously if people are still talking about it then people are making a big deal out of it.
Bs captain Zdeno Chara also confirmed he doesnt have an account with Facebook or tweeter, and perhaps may have won a moral victory in avoiding the obligatory Myface reference that Bill Belichick loves to drop. He was asked what level of concern he has over the distraction potential for Thomas political offerings.
Boston Bruins
None. I dont know what people are saying. Im not into that thing of Facebook or tweeter, said Chara. I dont listen to much radio, so I really dont know what people are saying or not saying. But its not a distraction in the room.
Interestingly enough the Bruins players have been equally open to those questioning Tim Thomas decision to air his opinions in public as well. After all its a free country and everybody gets a chance to fire away on what they deem appropriate, inappropriate, courageous, selfish, patriotic or ill-conceived as the case may be.
People are obviously going to have their opinions about what he has to say and rightfully so, said Lucic. Tim Thomas has his opinions about stuff and people have their own opinions. Youve got to respect the opinions that they have on Tim Thomas as well as we should respect his opinions. It is what it is; take it for what its worth.
That opinion actually sounds like it's worth quite a bit, and would carry plenty of weight along with a couple of wins for the Black and Gold in the next few days.