Ben Thomas (born May 28, 1996) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. He is currently an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

who most recently played with

HK Poprad HK Poprad is a professional ice hockey team in the Slovak Extraliga, the top ice hockey league in Slovakia. It plays its games in Poprad, Slovakia. The squad's greatest successes include 2nd place in the Slovak Extraliga in 2006, 2011 and 2021. Th ...

in the

Slovak Extraliga The Slovak Extraliga, known as the Tipsport liga since the 2025–26 season for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From 2018–19 to 2020–21, the league included one or two teams from Hungary. Teams fro ...

(Slovak).

Playing career

Thomas was selected by the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the ...

, 119th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, while playing major junior hockey with the

Calgary Hitmen The Calgary Hitmen are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Hitmen play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League (WHL), hosting their home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Bret "Hitman" Hart, a prof ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

(WHL). Following the conclusion of his final junior season, finishing second amongst defenseman in scoring on the

Vancouver Giants The Vancouver Giants are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team playing based in Langley, British Columbia, and playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Founded in 2001, the Giants won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions in 2006 and th ...

, Thomas was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 23, 2016. Thomas immediately joined AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and made his professional debut to end the 2015–16 season, recording 4 points in 8 regular season games. After the expiration of his entry-level contract, he re-signed with Tampa Bay on a one-year, two-way contract on October 12, 2020. On April 4, 2021, Thomas skated in his first career NHL game against the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

Amalie Arena Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, United States, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tamp ...

. As a free agent from the Lightning after six seasons within the organization, Thomas opted to pursue a career abroad, agreeing to a one-year contract with Swedish top flight club,

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, Swedish Hockey League (SHL), after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus ...

of the SHL, on August 25, 2021. In the 2021–22 season, Thomas made 32 appearances with Leksands however was unable to make an impact in recording just 3 points. On February 10, 2022, he transferred mid-season to fellow SHL club,

Växjö Lakers The Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) are a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays at the Vida Arena and plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), ...

, for the remainder of the campaign. Continuing his European career, Thomas signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with Finnish club,

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at ''Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, wh ...

of the

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

, on August 18, 2022. In the following

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, Thomas was a fixture on the blueline with Tappara, appearing in 50 regular season games and contributing with 4 goals and 12 points. He added 5 points through 14 playoff games, helping Tappara claim their second consecutive Liiga title. Leaving Tappara at the conclusion of his contract, Thomas agreed to a one-year contract with German club, Iserlohn Roosters of the DEL, on June 23, 2023.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Ben 1996 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Calgary Canucks players Calgary Hitmen players Calgary Mustangs players Ice hockey people from Calgary Iserlohn Roosters players Leksands IF players HK Poprad players Syracuse Crunch players Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks Tampa Bay Lightning players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Tappara players Vancouver Giants players Växjö Lakers players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland