Whether or not you think Tim Thomas’ obligation to his team outweighed his obligation to his conscience when he decided to sit out the Boston Bruins’ trip to the White House, one thing is clear: What the Bruins goalie did took a lot of guts.

Don’t think so? Think he would have shown more courage to “suck it up,” wear a fake smile, accept the President’s handshake, look him in the eye and give him a nod and a “Thank you” and save his political misgivings for another time and/or platform?

Think he would have shown more cojones if he’d waited for his moment with the President (assuming he’d have one) to articulate his views, rather than release a statement at virtually the same moment his teammates were being honored/used as background for a photo op?

Regardless of what Thomas did, he couldn’t please everybody. But that wasn’t the point of his protest.

Even if Thomas had no inkling of the outcry his protest would cause this past week in the media and amongst some fans, surely he knew it wouldn’t sit well with his teammates. This is a man who, according to some post-protest reports, has seen his popularity with his teammates decline faster than Kris Humphries’.

Those same reports indicated that Bruins’ management has taken note of Thomas losing his locker room luster and his declining loyalty to the organization, typified in gestures such as erasing the team colors and logo off his hockey mask. Sources characterized him as increasingly selfish and often isolated from the rest of the team, even as he was leading them to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 29 years.

Thomas may have already stopped caring what his teammates think about him, but he is still at the mercy of management. He has one more year left on his front-loaded contract. A no-trade clause in the contract expires July 1, and the 37-year-old goaltender could fetch an attractive deal from a team that thinks it’s an elite goalie away from contending.

The Bruins also have a ready replacement in Tuuka Rask, who every time he stands in front of the net seems to make a stronger case that he’s as ready as he’ll ever be. If Peter Chiarelli, Cam Neely and Claude Julien decide they’ve had enough of Thomas, they have a rare luxury in the NHL — the ability to replace a popular, accomplished veteran goalie with a young, popular and already somewhat proven goalie (47 career wins, 13 playoff games).

This is no small thing for someone like Thomas, who spent the first half of his professional career in goalie limbo, playing for virtually anyone who would have him, from the IHL to Finland and Sweden. The last thing Thomas wants to deal with in the autumn of his career is a suitcase.

Regardless of what you think of his political views, you shouldn’t doubt Thomas is savvy enough to know he had a lot to lose by doing what he did. Yet there are some who are wondering just how strong his convictions are, given that he didn’t confront President Obama face to face.

Some have gone so far as to suggest that Thomas shouldn’t have played for the United States in the 2010 Olympics if he were so disillusioned with his government, as if one is not capable of proudly representing his country when he has a problem with its government.

Of course, many of Thomas’ critics are the same people who looked the other way when Theo Epstein skipped the 2007 Red Sox’ trip to the Bush White House. I don’t recall hearing Epstein’s convictions questioned when this happened, let alone his politics. I don’t remember anyone calling out Epstein for “disrespecting the office” when he snubbed the President.

While it’s not a coincidence that much of the criticism leveled Thomas’ way has come from media that is predisposed to dismiss or even mock his beliefs, the First Amendment doesn’t protect him from all of the ramifications of exercising his right. He isn’t above criticism for his decision or his statement explaining it. He insulted everyone’s intelligence, for example, when he said he wasn’t making a political statement.

Thomas isn’t running for office. He didn’t ask any of his teammates to join his boycott. He hasn’t asked anyone to believe what he believes. He didn’t make any demands. He didn’t tie up rush hour traffic in downtown Manhattan or take over a public park and trash it. And he certainly didn’t insult President Obama, who wouldn’t know Tim Thomas from Marlo Thomas.

He followed his conscience. Apparently, there are some who think he should pay a price for that.

I doubt that never crossed Thomas’ mind when he was considering not going to the White House.

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