Former NHL right winger Christian Thomas has signed with Czech Bílí Tygři Liberec, the Czech Extraliga club announced on Tuesday.
Thomas, 32, is the son of long-time NHLer Steve Thomas and brother-in-law of current NHLer Adam Henrique.
“Christian is a player with a history in the NHL, and he played many seasons in the AHL and top European leagues,” said Liberec coach Filip Pešan. “He played in a lower European league for the last two years, but that hasn’t taken away from his drive to the net or his speed. He is a dangerous finisher and is great on the forecheck, which are attributes we were looking for in a player. We spent a lot of time scouting him. We believe he has something to bring to our team.”
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.
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, the Bolzano Foxes in Italy, and now Liberec.