Canadian right winger Christian Thomas, 32, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with the Iserlohn Roosters, the DEL club announced this week.
The Roosters will be Thomas’ third team this season and Germany will be his third country. He started the season playing for Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, where he had one assist in 16 games. Thomas then moved on to HC Nové Zámky in the Slovak Extraliga, where he had considerably more success finding the net with 26 points in 22 games. His last game with the team was Jan. 17, a 4-1 loss to Dukla Trenčín.
“I'm excited about the chance to play in a top league like the DEL,” said Thomas. “We fight for every point, as we’ve seen in the last few games, and I want to do my part to ensure a successful end to the season.”
Thomas is expected to be in the Roosters’ lineup for their home game on Sunday against Eisbären Berlin.
“We are very happy that we have been able to sign an experienced forward in Christian, which was anything but a given given the current market situation,” said Roosters sports director Franz-David Fritzmeier. “Christian is a fast winger who is already in the rhythm of playing. Given our current injury situation, he can and should help us immediately and will give our team additional energy in the final stretch of the season.”
Thomas joins an Iserlohn team that sits 12th in the 14-team DEL with 37 points in 38 games, 14 points out of a post-season berth. The club’s roster includes ex-NHLers Jake Virtanen of the Vancouver Canucks and Michael Dal Colle of the New York Islanders.
Thomas, who played junior hockey for the OHL’s London Knights and Oshawa Generals, was a second-round draft pick of the New York Rangers in 2010. In six years of professional hockey in North America between 2012 and 2018, Thomas played 27 NHL games for the Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes, scoring a goal and adding two assists.
In 2018, while playing for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Thomas was chosen to play for the Canadian team at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang – which the NHL did not break for. He tallied a goal and an assist in six games, helping Canada to a bronze medal.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgmVqAn2cdY[/embed]
Thomas has played in Europe ever since then, for Rögle BK in Sweden, Traktor Chelyabinsk in Russia, SC Bern in Switzerland, KooKoo in Finland, Barys Astana in Kazakhstan, Bern again, HC Bolzano in Italy, Liberec and Nové Zámky.
His teammates in Nové Zámky this season included fellow Canadian ex-NHLers Nick Ritchie and Jayce Hawryluk.