Thomas is recovering from offseason hip surgery, but even as he gets ready for training camp, he wasn't willing to speculate how much that injury may have affected his play last season.
"Last year is last year, the past is the past," said Thomas while getting ready to tee it up in the seventh annual Bruins Golf Tournament at The International. "I'm not going to look back and try to speculate. I'm looking forward toward the future, toward this season and playing the best that I absolutely possibly can."
To do that, he'll first have to get back to being 100 percent healthy. So far he is progressing nicely from the surgery he underwent in late May to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.
"It's pretty good," said Thomas. "I was on the ice for a bit last week. It's passed every test we've thrown at it so far."
Still, it doesn't appear that Thomas will be ready for full participation in camp when the veterans report on Friday.
"I don't know, that's going to be up to the trainers and the physical therapists and it depends how it reacts as it's going along," said Thomas. "I can't really make a projection at this point."
Even with a limited camp, Thomas still expects to be ready by the start of the regular season in Prague.
"That's what we're shooting for, the opening day of the regular season, [being] 100 percent," said Thomas. "It's been going pretty well. It might end up being 100 percent before that."
Thomas knows he won't be getting 100 percent of the starts in goal after Tuukka Rask supplanted him as the club's No. 1 goalie last year. But Thomas does expect to be given a fair shot at reclaiming the starting role.
"I was promised the same chance," said Thomas. "That's the way I'm approaching it, and I think I will. My play will do the talking. It's in my hands. That's the way I look at it."
And Thomas believes that he can return to the form that helped him win the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie in 2008-09.
"I thought it over over the summer and I'm approaching it just like I did every challenge I've had at every level going through," said Thomas. "It's a battle against yourself. I've proven in the past what I can do when I bring the best game that I have to the table, so it's up to me to do that."
As for the reports earlier this summer that Thomas could have been on the trade block, the Bruins netminder has crossed that off his history syllabus as well.
"Again, that's going to go in the category of in the past," said Thomas. "I'm thinking about the future now. I really am in the present, not the past, in my head."
And Thomas has enough current activities to keep him occupied as the season approaches.
"I've been working out hard," said Thomas. "You've got to train hard, especially when you're rehabbing an injury. Plus I want to put myself in the best position to have as good a year as I can."
