Last week, Thomas reiterated to general manager Peter Chiarelli via agent Bill Zito that he will not play this season. However, Thomas wants to play in 2013-14.

This season, the Bruins will be responsible for carrying Thomas’s $5 million prorated cap number, although he will not receive his $3 million in remaining salary.

“We want to do it in a non-adversarial way,” Chiarelli said of suspending Thomas. “I’ve talked to the agent. We’ll agree to some type of set of facts. That will be it.”

Last summer, Chiarelli projected that a team below the cap floor might trade for Thomas. Even though Thomas wouldn’t play, a team could have used his cap hit to reach the floor.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, the floor this season is $44 million. All teams are above that threshold.

“There’s probably not an opportunity to move him to a team that needs to get to the floor,” Chiarelli acknowledged. “So, it’s a bit of a standstill. He’s on our cap and he’ll be suspended.”

Thomas’s contract is set to expire after this season. The Bruins can toll the contract forward by an additional season, and Thomas would remain Boston property in 2013-14. If the Bruins decline to toll the contract forward, Thomas will become an unrestricted free agent on July 5.

Last May, the Bruins were surprised by Thomas’s decision. That abrupt declaration, combined with the team’s obligation to carry his cap number this season, will not make Thomas welcome in Boston. But circumstances could change.

“Too early to tell,” Chiarelli said when asked if the team would toll Thomas’s contract forward. “It’s a contractual right by law that we have that we may use or not.”

Bourque is home

Thirteen years ago, Ray Bourque called TD Garden home. On Sunday, Chris Bourque finally could say the same. The son of the Hall of Fame defenseman took his first official skate as a Bruin on Garden ice.

“To be in the locker room, it’s something I’ve dreamed of as a kid,” Bourque said. “I used to come in here as a kid. But to come in here as a player to try and earn a spot is really a dream come true.”

Bourque will have first crack at filling the only vacancy among the forward lines. On June 23, the Bruins traded third-line left wing Benoit Pouliot to Tampa Bay. On Sunday, the 26-year-old Bourque practiced in Pouliot’s former spot on the No. 3 line alongside Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

“He makes plays,” coach Claude Julien said of Bourque. “He’s got good hockey sense, skates well. We saw him on the power play. He does some good things. We need to give this guy an opportunity to show that he can do it with us. Right now, we know he’s not a fourth-line player. He’s more of a top-three-line player. Right now, there’s a spot open there. We’re giving him that opportunity to maybe see if there’s some chemistry that can be built between those three.”

In 32 games with Providence this season, Bourque had eight goals and 20 assists. In previous call-ups with Pittsburgh and Washington, Bourque filled mostly a fourth-line role.

The Bruins have one of the league’s sharpest fourth lines in Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, and Shawn Thornton. On the third line, the two-way play of Kelly and Peverley should help blunt any of Bourque’s defensive shortcomings.

“I would never make excuses for myself. But when I did play for those two teams, I was always stuck on the fourth line,” Bourque said of his earlier NHL stints. “Not playing with as offensive guys as I would like to. I consider myself decently offensive. It’s tough when you’re playing eight minutes tops and not given that great a chance to produce offensively.”

Savard to visit

Marc Savard is scheduled to be in Boston this week, at which time the Bruins will declare Savard unfit to play. Savard is still suffering post-concussion symptoms.

Savard is under contract through 2016-17 at an annual average salary of $4,007,143. The Bruins could exceed this season’s $70.2 million cap by Savard’s annual hit by placing the center on long-term injured reserve.