Throughout his career, Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas has been an individual.

You get like that when you’ve spent your whole career proving coaches, commentators and fans wrong. A guy doesn’t go from being drafted 217th overall and playing for eight teams in four countries over nine years before being named playoff MVP for last year’s Stanley Cup-winning Bruins without walking to the beat of a very different drummer.

So when Thomas confirmed this weekend that he is planning to take the next NHL season off, it really came as no surprise. Thomas is as Thomas does.

“At the age of 38,” Thomas posted on his Facebook page Sunday, “I believe it is time to put my time and energies into those areas and relationships that I have neglected.” In the post, Thomas said he planned to spend next year reconnecting with three F’s: “Friends, Family and Faith.”

On the surface, it sounds reasonable. The guy’s been playing every year since he was a kid, and he’s definitely taken a long road less travelled to get to the top. He and his wife have three young children and regardless of the platitudes and money, the travel and commitment required to be a professional athlete don’t make for an easy family life. Thomas is almost 40 and he’s accomplished everything he could have dreamed of as a player. He’s earned a break, and if he has family matters to attend to, we have no right to question his decision.

“I’m disappointed,” Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said when asked about Thomas’s choice to take time off from hockey. “When someone talks about their family, you have to respect that.”

But unfortunately, we’re talking about Tim Thomas here. The same Tim Thomas who passed up a ceremonial photo op with U.S. President Obama for political reasons. The same Tim Thomas who got in a war of words with fellow netminder Roberto Luongo during last year’s Stanley Cup finals. And the same Tim Thomas who posts stories on Facebook of economic Armageddon as a reason for his waning interest in hockey.

Because it’s Tim Thomas, skeptics are already accusing him of using his sabbatical as leverage with the Bruins. Thomas is in the final season of a four-year contract in which he is owed $3 million in 2012-13. Even if he takes the year off, his deal counts as $5 million against the salary cap.

But the Bruins need to sign his longtime backup, Tuukka Rask, a 25-year-old restricted free agent who has been just as good as Thomas in limited playing time. If a conversation occurred that promised Rask more playing time if he re-upped with the B’s, then by walking away Thomas is forcing the Bruins to either trade or commit to him in order to avoid swallowing a $5 million cap hit for nothing.

Indeed, that $5 million could certainly come in handy when the Bruins negotiate with Rask and other free agents this summer. Instead, it’s tied up with a guy who’s sitting at home with his family.

Chiarelli could trade Thomas to a team like Colorado or Florida that needs to get up to the cap floor, but he won’t get much in return for a 38-year-old netminder on sabbatical.

It’s hard to believe that Thomas would be so conniving and ruthless with the team that gave him the opportunity to be a two-time Vezina Trophy winner and four-time all-star. It’s much easier to believe that Thomas is a devoted family man who wants to take a break from the roller coaster of life in the NHL to spend more time with his kids.

But Thomas has pointed out numerous times that he acts strictly as an individual and he would probably still be playing in Europe somewhere if he didn’t put his own ambitions ahead of his team’s. He’s made a career of it.

Thomas is as Thomas does.