Christian Thomas (ice hockey)

Christian Thomas
Born (1992-05-26) May 26, 1992
Toronto, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team (P)
Cur. team
Former teams		 Washington Capitals
Hershey Bears (AHL)
New York Rangers
Montreal Canadiens
Arizona Coyotes
NHL Draft 40th overall, 2010
New York Rangers
Playing career 2011–present

Christian Patrick Thomas[1] (born May 26, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Thomas played junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Christian Thomas was drafted 40th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2nd round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.[2][3][4] Thomas made his National Hockey League (NHL) debut with the Rangers on February 23, 2013. He is the son of former NHL player Steve Thomas.[2][5]

Playing career

Junior

Thomas started his junior hockey career with the OHL London Knights in 2008 as the 13th overall selection in the OHL Priority Selection.[6] He was traded to the Generals in the middle of the season in a trade in which London received Michael Del Zotto, John Tavares and Daryl Borden.[6][7][8][9][10] During the 2008-09 season, Thomas scored four goals each for the Knights and the Generals.[10] In 2009-10, his second OHL season, Thomas scored 41 goals.[3][11] Tyler Seguin and Jeff Skinner were the only two 2010 first round draft picks to score more goals in junior hockey in 2009-10 than Thomas.[3] He also was credited with 25 assists, for a total of 66 points, leading Oshawa in both goals and points.[6][11] He had four shorthanded goals during the season, a new Oshawa franchise record.[6] He was named the Eastern Conference's most improved player in a post-season coaches poll, and was also in the top three in several other categories—best shot, hardest shot, most dangerous in goal area, and best stickhandler.[10][12]

In 2010-11, Christian Thomas finished second in the league with 54 goals and sixth in the league in scoring with 99 points, while also tying for the league lead in power play goals.[13][14][15] He also finished 5th in the league in game-winning goals with nine.[16] 12 of his regular season goals came against the Kingston Frontenacs, Oshawa's first round playoff opponent.[17] He was named the OHL player of the week three times, including for the first week of the OHL playoffs.[18] At the time Oshawa was eliminated from the OHL playoffs, Thomas was leading the OHL in playoff scoring, and he ended up 7th overall in playoff points and 9th in playoff goals.[6] In the post-season coaches poll, he was named as having the OHL Eastern Conference's best shot and as "most dangerous in the goal area," after finishing as runner up in those categories the prior year.[19][20] He also repeated his runner-up status as having the conference's hardest shot.[19][20] Thomas' 95 goals over the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons are more than any other OHL player over those two seasons.[6] As a result of Thomas scoring more than 50 goals in 2010-11, Steve and Christian Thomas became the first father son combination to each score 50 goals in a single OHL season.[4][21][22] Steve Thomas had scored 51 goals for the Marlboros in 1983-84.[5]

Thomas got off to a slow start in the 2011-12 season, marred by a 10-game suspension for a high-sticking incident.[23][24] However, he recovered and was named the OHL player of the week for the week of November 28 to December 4 for scoring 3 goals and 6 assists with a +6 plus-minus rating in 2 games.[25] He was also named the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) player of the week for that week, beating out Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and fellow New York Ranger draftee Michael St. Croix for the honor.[26] He finished the season with 67 points in 55 games with 34 goals and 33 assists.[11] In 6 playoff games he scored 2 goals and 2 assists.[27] After the Generals were eliminated from the 2012 playoffs, Thomas joined the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).[28]

Professional

Thomas signed a professional contract with the Rangers on May 19, 2011.[6] He scored his first professional goal for the Connecticut Whale on April 13, 2012 against the Manchester Monarchs.[29] In five regular season games for the Whale in 2011-12, Thomas scored that one goal and added one assist.[11][30] He also played for the Whale in the AHL playoffs.[30] On February 23, 2013 Thomas was recalled to the Rangers.[31] Thomas made his NHL debut that night against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal, and was scoreless with 2 shots on goal in 12 minutes as the Rangers were shut out.[32][33] Thomas returned to the Whale after the game.[34] He finished the 2012-13 AHL season with 19 goals and 16 assists in 73 games for the Whale.[11] After the 2012-13 Whale season, he was added to the Rangers' playoff roster.[35]

On July 2, 2013, Thomas was traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for prospect Danny Kristo.[36]

On February 12, 2015, Thomas scored his first NHL goal against Edmonton Oilers in Montreal, Quebec at the Bell Centre.[37]

During the 2015–16 season, on December 15, 2015, Thomas was traded by the Canadiens to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for prospect Lucas Lessio.[38]

On July 1, 2016, Thomas signed as a free agent to a one-year, two-way contract with the Washington Capitals.[39]

International play

Thomas represented Canada at the 2010 IIHF World U18 Championships.[40][41] He had two goals and one assist in six games for Team Canada.[40][41] He was invited to the selection camp for Canada's National Junior Team for the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.[26]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2008–09London KnightsOHL3247114—————
2008–09Oshawa GeneralsOHL274101410—————
2009–10Oshawa GeneralsOHL6441256627—————
2010–11Oshawa GeneralsOHL665445993810910194
2011–12Oshawa GeneralsOHL553433671262240
2011–12Connecticut WhaleAHL5112060000
2012–13Connecticut WhaleAHL7319163515—————
2012–13New York RangersNHL10000—————
2013–14Hamilton BulldogsAHL5511162722—————
2013–14Montreal CanadiensNHL20000—————
2014–15Hamilton BulldogsAHL5211112218—————
2014–15Montreal CanadiensNHL181017—————
2015–16St. John's IceCapsAHL1877144—————
2015–16Montreal CanadiensNHL50222—————
2015–16Springfield FalconsAHL163474—————
2015–16Arizona CoyotesNHL10000—————
NHL totals 27 1 2 3 9 — — — — —

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2009 Canada Ontario WHC17 1st, gold medalist(s) 6 2 0 2 6
2010 Canada WJC18 7th 6 2 1 3 6
Junior totals 12 4 1 5 12

References

  1. ↑ The middle name "Patrick" is confirmed in the "BIRTHS DEATHS" section of the Toronto Star dated Saturday May 30, 1992 page C7. "Births" section.
  2. 1 2 Brooks, L. (June 27, 2010). "Rangers Select Thomas, Son of Former Islanders & Devils Forward". New York Post. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  3. 1 2 3 Zipay, S. (June 26, 2010). "Rangers select Steve Thomas' son, Christian, in second round". Newsday. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  4. 1 2 "Thomas' promise reflected in numbers". newyorkrangers.com. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  5. 1 2 "Steve Thomas". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Thomas agrees to first NHL contract". New York Rangers. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  7. ↑ Sager, N. (November 26, 2010). "OHL: Mark Hunter willing to wear it for London Knights' tumble". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  8. ↑ "Tavares dealt to London". Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  9. ↑ McGourty, J. (June 21, 2010). "Christian Thomas hoping to follow in dad's shoes". nhl.com. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  10. 1 2 3 Boylen, R. (December 23, 2010). "Prospect Watch: Christian Thomas". The Hockey News. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Christian Thomas". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  12. ↑ "OHL Announces 2009-10 Eastern Conference Coaches Poll Winners". hockeysfuture.com. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  13. ↑ "2010-11 OHL Goal Leaders". Ontario Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  14. ↑ "2010-11 OHL Scoring Leaders". Ontario Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2011-04-06. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  15. ↑ "2010-11 OHL Power Play Goal Leaders". Ontario Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  16. ↑ "2010-11 OHL Game Winning Goal Leaders". Ontario Hockey League. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  17. ↑ Graham, D. "Fronts paying plenty of attention to Generals star". Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  18. ↑ "Thomas is OHL's best once again". Vancouver Sun. March 28, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  19. 1 2 "IceDogs Lead the Way in Eastern Conference Coaches Poll". Niagara IceDogs. March 12, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  20. 1 2 "Boys coming together at right time". The Oshawa Express. April 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  21. ↑ Zwolinski, M. (March 24, 2011). "Generals' Christian Thomas follows in father Steve's 50-goal footsteps". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  22. ↑ "Nugent-Hopkins tops in WHL". Vancouver Sun. March 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  23. ↑ Headley, A. "Generals' Thomas Closes In On Savard for 5th All-Time". Ontario Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  24. ↑ King, P. (December 5, 2011). "World Junior Power Rankings". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  25. ↑ "Generals' Christian Thomas Named OHL Player of the Week". Ontario Hockey League. December 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  26. 1 2 "Generals' Christian Thomas Named CHL Player of the Week". Ontario Hockey League. December 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  27. ↑ "Top scorers: 2012 playoffs". Ontario Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  28. ↑ "Two More Ranger Draft Picks Join Whale". Connecticut Whale. April 1, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  29. ↑ Ring, B. "Whale's Last Regular-Season Home Game Yields 5-4 Shootout Loss". Connecticut Whale. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  30. 1 2 Crawford, B. (May 4, 2012). "A Tale of Two Thomas'". SportsPageMagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  31. ↑ Leonard, P. (February 23, 2013). "NY Rangers recall Christian Thomas and Steve Eminger prior to Saturday's game in Montreal, Rick Nash placed on IR retroactively". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  32. ↑ "Price and Canadiens shut out Rangers 3-0". Associated Press. February 23, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  33. ↑ "NY Rangers at Montreal". February 23, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  34. ↑ "Rangers assign Thomas to Whale". Connecticutplus.com. February 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  35. ↑ "Rangers call up 10 players from Whale". New York Rangers. April 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  36. ↑ "Rangers trade Thomas to Canadiens for Kristo". National Hockey League. 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  37. ↑ "(Video) First NHL Goal: Thomas opens scoring for Canadiens with bullet past Fasth". Hockey's Future. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  38. ↑ "Coyotes Acquire Thomas from Montreal in Exchange for Lessio". National Hockey League. 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  39. ↑ "Capitals sign Cannata, Dietz and Thomas". Washington Capitals. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  40. 1 2 "Christian Thomas". CapGeek.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  41. 1 2 "Player Statistics by Team: Canada" (PDF). IIHF. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
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