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Bill Thomas (ice hockey)

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Bill Thomas
Thomas with the Lake Erie Monsters in 2012
Born (1983-06-20) June 20, 1983 (age 41)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
AL team
Former teams		 Anyang Halla
Phoenix Coyotes
Pittsburgh Penguins
HC Lugano
Florida Panthers
KHL Medveščak Zagreb
Modo Hockey
EC Red Bull Salzburg
Tampereen Ilves
Kölner Haie
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 2006–present

William Thomas (born June 20, 1983) is an American professional ice hockey player. He currently plays right wing for Anyang Halla, member of the Asia League Ice Hockey (AL).

Playing career

[edit]

He was undrafted out of suburban Pittsburgh Fox Chapel Area High School. Thomas played for the Cleveland Jr. Barons of the NAHL and Tri-City Storm of the USHL. He also played for the University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks for two years, leading them to their first NCAA Division I hockey tournament appearance.[1]

After playing in the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament, Thomas signed his first professional contract on March 26, 2006, with the Phoenix Coyotes a few days after the Mavericks were eliminated from the tournament in the first round. Thomas played 47 games for the Phoenix Coyotes' AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, in the 2006–07 season. He led the Rampage in goals in the 2007–08 season until he was also called up to the NHL for 24 games with the Coyotes during the same year. After the season Thomas signed a one-year contract with the Penguins on July 15, 2008.[2] William scored his first goal with the Penguins, his hometown team, against the San Jose Sharks on February 11, 2009.[3]

On September 13, 2009, Thomas accepted an invite to the Toronto Maple Leafs' pre-season training camp on a tryout basis only to be subsequently released from the Maple Leafs on September 19, 2009.[4] During the 2009–10 season, on November 3, 2009, Thomas then signed a Professional Try-out Agreement with the Springfield Falcons. After scoring 17 points in 33 games with the Falcons, he was released from his P.T.O on January 22, 2010, to join HC Lugano of the Swiss National League A for the remainder of the season.

William returned to North America following the conclusion of the season with Lugano to sign a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers on July 2, 2010.[5] Assigned to the Panthers' AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, Thomas led the team in goals to start the 2010–11 season, before he was recalled to make his Panthers debut and first NHL return in two seasons, against the New York Islanders on November 20, 2010.[6] Thomas tied a career high to appear in 24 games with the Panthers, scoring 7 points.

In the following 2011–12 season, Thomas attended the Panthers training camp without a contract. Reassigned to the Panthers' new AHL affiliate and his previous AHL team, the San Antonio Rampage, Thomas later earned a one-year deal for the remainder of the season with Florida on December 20, 2011.[7] With only 7 games with the Panthers, Thomas matched his last season with the Rampage in 2008 to tie a career-high with 52 points.

On July 3, 2012, Thomas signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche.[8] With the NHL lockout coming to affect, Thomas was assigned directly by the Avalanche to AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters. During the duration of the 2012–13 season, Thomas provided a veteran presence for the Monsters and featured in every game to lead the team with 22 goals.

On June 14, 2013, Thomas signed his second contract abroad with a one-year contract with KHL Medveščak Zagreb from Croatia, the newest member of Kontinental Hockey League.[9]

After two seasons in the KHL in Zagreb, Thomas left as a free agent to sign a one-year contract in the Swedish Hockey League with Modo Hockey on June 22, 2015.[10] In the 2015–16 season, Thomas added 12 goals and 22 points in 48 games, however was unable to help keep Modo in the SHL, losing in relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan.

On June 24, 2016, having left Modo as a free agent, Thomas agreed to a one-year contract with Austrian club, EC Red Bull Salzburg of the EBEL.[11]

On November 30, 2017, Thomas signed a one-month try-out contract with the Finnish club Ilves Tampere of the Liiga.[12] After spending a month with Ilves, on January 2, 2018 he was introduced as a new forward for German club Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Career statistics

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Cleveland Jr. Barons NAHL 51 3 3 6 2 — — — — —
2001–02 Cleveland Jr. Barons NAHL 52 12 17 29 16 — — — — —
2002–03 Tri-City Storm USHL 60 29 21 50 20 3 0 3 3 4
2003–04 Tri-City Storm USHL 60 31 38 69 30 9 8 6 14 4
2004–05 University of Nebraska-Omaha CCHA 39 19 26 45 12 — — — — —
2005–06 University of Nebraska-Omaha CCHA 41 27 23 50 43 — — — — —
2005–06 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 9 1 2 3 8 — — — — —
2006–07 San Antonio Rampage AHL 47 13 20 33 20 — — — — —
2006–07 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 24 8 6 14 2 — — — — —
2007–08 San Antonio Rampage AHL 75 24 28 52 40 7 1 2 3 0
2007–08 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 7 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2008–09 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 16 2 1 3 2 — — — — —
2008–09 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 39 8 10 18 24 12 1 4 5 12
2009–10 Springfield Falcons AHL 33 5 12 17 14 — — — — —
2009–10 HC Lugano NLA 6 2 1 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
2010–11 Rochester Americans AHL 53 16 20 36 12 — — — — —
2010–11 Florida Panthers NHL 24 4 3 7 6 — — — — —
2011–12 San Antonio Rampage AHL 65 27 25 52 18 10 5 5 10 0
2011–12 Florida Panthers NHL 7 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2012–13 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 76 22 21 43 33 — — — — —
2013–14 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 54 11 19 30 14 4 1 1 2 2
2014–15 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 60 18 18 36 22 — — — — —
2015–16 Modo Hockey SHL 48 12 10 22 18 — — — — —
2016–17 EC Red Bull Salzburg EBEL 54 17 29 46 24 11 5 2 7 0
2017–18 Ilves Liiga 6 2 1 3 0 — — — — —
2017–18 Kölner Haie DEL 14 1 6 7 4 6 1 1 2 2
NHL totals 87 16 12 28 18 — — — — —

Awards and honors

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Award Year
College
All-CCHA Rookie of the Year 2004–05
All-CCHA Rookie Team 2004–05
All-CCHA Second Team 2004–05
All-CCHA First Team 2005–06

References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Shelly (April 2, 2006). "Shelly Anderson's NHL Notebook: Fox Chapel High grad has taken his scoring touch to Phoenix". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 12, 2009.
  2. ^ Adamski, Chris (August 14, 2008). "PG North: Fox Chapel's Thomas eager to get started with Penguins". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  3. ^ Robinson, Alan (February 11, 2009). "Crosby's shootout goal leads Pens past Sharks". Pittsburgh. AP. Retrieved February 12, 2009.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Maple Leafs trim training camp roster". Toronto Maple Leafs. September 19, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  5. ^ "Panthers sign RW Bill Thomas and LW Triston Grant". Florida Panthers. July 2, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  6. ^ "Florida Panthers recall RW Bill Thomas". Florida Panthers. November 20, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  7. ^ "Panthers sign Bill Thomas". Florida Panthers. December 20, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  8. ^ "Avalanche signs six players". Colorado Avalanche. July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  9. ^ "NHL forward Bill Thomas adds to Bears attack" (in Croatian). KHL Medveščak Zagreb. June 14, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  10. ^ "Modo's next acquisition is Bill Thomas" (in Swedish). Modo Hockey. June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  11. ^ "New forward and defender sign with Red Bull" (in German). EC Red Bull Salzburg. June 24, 2016. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  12. ^ "American forward Bill Thomas signs a try-out contract with Ilves" (in Finnish). Ilves. November 30, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
[edit]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by CCHA Rookie of the Year
2004–05 		Succeeded by
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