Confirmed with Link: Lightning sign Ben Thomas to 3-year, ELC | PTO with Syracuse for the rest of season
- Thread starter sureloss
- Start date
Hopefully they mean just an ATO and not an ELC. Don't think he is worth a 3 year contract.
That was a real young and bad team he was on. The Lightning are probably higher on him than his numbers suggest. The Lightning sign all their draft picks so this is in line with the way we draft and develop. No open spots on game day roster though we are deep down in Syracuse at RHD.
He was on a pretty decent Calgary team but was passed by better players so he got traded and his game still didn't develop. He stagnated since his draft year, there hasn't been any growth to his game. Him being a RD is his only good thing but is he better then Dotchin who'll he be competing with for time? Next year Spencer turns pro and will need a contract, we could let Dotchin go and give that contract to Spencer. Think we should give Thomas an ATO to see what he got but look elsewhere for a RD to sign to an ELC.
Started a Ben Thomas thread on the WHL forum.
"Thomas has been one of the Giants best players this year. On one hand that is sad given how many injuries and struggles the team has faced this season. On the other hand it's a compliment to him. He's been their most reliable all around defenseman. I would classify him more as a defensive defenseman but he has had opportunities on the PP. Don't think there is much upside offensively at the pro level. I wouldn't be surprised if he returns to Vancouver as an overager. Even if he is signed by Tampa or any other team he should be back in junior for his final year."
If he is a more mobile defensive defenseman than Dotchin...I'll take it all day. Kid has good size and if he can be a better option than Dodero on injury call up that would be great. Darcy and Hart have taken HUGE strides this season - though they still kinda both suck - they are much better players than what they showed to start the season. Don't mind if he hasn't developed ... as far as I'm concerned does he have tools that can be developed.
The other thing I'm not sure about is what type of contract does not count towards the 50 man roster but assures that we keep the players rights that are on ECHL contracts? For example, once we get an ECHL affiliate - can we stash Ben Thomas' type players in the ECHL without them signing with other teams and not counting towards our 50 man roster limit?
Best player on a bad team but a bad player on a good team. Not someone who gets an ELC especially if they have to go back to the CHL for a 20 year old season.
The only way we can have him in the system not counting towards the 50 is on an AHL contract not an ELC which is an NHL one. The problem is there might be a team willing to offer one so he wouldn't sign an AHL contract. I would try to trade his rights for a conditional pick if he signs and ELC.
We did sign Walcott which was a bit of a surprise so maybe he gets a deal, Dotchin has one year and then he's done. With a possible expansion draft ahead, someone like Blujus might be a piece a team picks up as a close to NHL ready RD so having an option like Thomas in Syracuse to replace him might be appealing.
Its a 3 year ELC per: http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=875015
More info on the Syracuse Crunch website: http://www.syracusecrunch.com/news/2016/3/22/syracuse-crunch-sign-ben-thomas-to-ato.aspx
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I put the announcement on the thread and got:
"Cool, always liked his steady game. Seems like a good kid too."
"Either way, good for him, he was definitely one of (the) better defenseman the Giants have seen in years."
More than meets the eye with the kid in terms of stats. I wish I would have gotten a chance to watch him during rookie training camp. The Lightning definitely have a player "type" with their mid-round drafted defensemen. All about 6'2" with a 210 lb fully developed body frame - can skate, smart. They are definitely looking at the Garrison type without putting much emphasis on the shot or scoring from the blue line. Blujus, Masin, Spencer, Koekkoek, Thomas, MacLoud ... all have that large athletic frame to them and not overly focused on points at all. DeAngelo type is definitely the outlier in terms of what they are looking for but he was brought in to be a PP specialist. Dotchin is an outlier as well as he doesn't seem to be smart nor have good/great skating.
Excited to see more of this kid. If he is the steady type like Blujus...that should prove to be a boon for Syracuse. I'd think they want to move someone on the blue line but was looking at Witko maybe replacing Angelidis with the C. But that is a glut of RHD. If we move or don't re-sign Witko (25 yr old UFA) we become real young - especially with Koekkoek maybe spending a large part of the year with TBL. Taormina probably deserves another contract as he has performed well. If everyone comes back we are looking at:
Koekkoek / Witko
Taormina / Blujus
Masin / DeAngelo
Walcott / Dotchin
/ Thomas
So far we are adding only three players this summer: Point / Masin / Thomas. Maybe Tammella as he was drafted out of Finnish league. Gusev isn't coming over next year. Mullin might be another one but doubt it as he is a 2010 (pre)-Yzerman draft pick and might suffer same fate as Brendan O'Donnell. Digiacinto might be another one we could possibly sign as he is elligible for a contract. So that is 4 contracts that we could possibly be adding on.
We have 47 contracts - minus: Ohlund, Angelidis, Broll. That is 44 contracts and add in Point, Masin, Thomas, and Digiancinto. So that is 48 contracts - from that perspective we should be fine.
I put the announcement on the thread and got:
"Cool, always liked his steady game. Seems like a good kid too."
"Either way, good for him, he was definitely one of (the) better defenseman the Giants have seen in years."
More than meets the eye with the kid in terms of stats. I wish I would have gotten a chance to watch him during rookie training camp. The Lightning definitely have a player "type" with their mid-round drafted defensemen. All about 6'2" with a 210 lb fully developed body frame - can skate, smart. They are definitely looking at the Garrison type without putting much emphasis on the shot or scoring from the blue line. Blujus, Masin, Spencer, Koekkoek, Thomas, MacLoud ... all have that large athletic frame to them and not overly focused on points at all. DeAngelo type is definitely the outlier in terms of what they are looking for but he was brought in to be a PP specialist. Dotchin is an outlier as well as he doesn't seem to be smart nor have good/great skating.
Excited to see more of this kid. If he is the steady type like Blujus...that should prove to be a boon for Syracuse. I'd think they want to move someone on the blue line but was looking at Witko maybe replacing Angelidis with the C. But that is a glut of RHD. If we move or don't re-sign Witko (25 yr old UFA) we become real young - especially with Koekkoek maybe spending a large part of the year with TBL. Taormina probably deserves another contract as he has performed well. If everyone comes back we are looking at:
Koekkoek / Witko
Taormina / Blujus
Masin / DeAngelo
Walcott / Dotchin
/ Thomas
So far we are adding only three players this summer: Point / Masin / Thomas. Maybe Tammella as he was drafted out of Finnish league. Gusev isn't coming over next year. Mullin might be another one but doubt it as he is a 2010 (pre)-Yzerman draft pick and might suffer same fate as Brendan O'Donnell. Digiacinto might be another one we could possibly sign as he is elligible for a contract. So that is 4 contracts that we could possibly be adding on.
We have 47 contracts - minus: Ohlund, Angelidis, Broll. That is 44 contracts and add in Point, Masin, Thomas, and Digiancinto. So that is 48 contracts - from that perspective we should be fine.
Thomas being good sized and mobile is nice, having his development stagnate since his draft year worries me. Should push Dotchin for that 3rd pair spot, just don't see an NHL future but could be really good for Syracuse.
Don't think DiGiacinto gets a contract. Have too many barely AHL quality forwards in Darcy, Hart and Ikonen. Would sign Imama to replace Broll and keep contracts open for Stephens, Joseph and Yan the following season.
Ana Crusis
Registered User
Definitely just look at his playoff numbers. He has taken a step since the beginning of the season.
VoluntaryDom
Formerly DominicBoltsFan / Ⓐ / ✞
Jersey Fan 12
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- Nov 20, 2006
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RFA with nearly 300 AHL games (including playoffs). Is there any value to another organization or even with the Lightning?
Will turn 24 later this month.
Wondering about guys like Mermis or some others who took time to develop in the AHL but eventually emerged as NHL defenseman.
Will turn 24 later this month.
Wondering about guys like Mermis or some others who took time to develop in the AHL but eventually emerged as NHL defenseman.
There's value to the organization but I don't think any to the lightning. He should definitely be brought back to Syracuse to be a steady top 4 guy for them. He's a good sized kid, skates good and is a RD so has value there. I just don't know if he'll ever get a look with Tampa. You got Cernak and Foote in front of him for sure and Sergachev can play the right. But someone like Dotchin found a little something one year, we had some injuries and he got a look and made something of it so you never know.
We don't have any RD in the system making the jump this offseason with Crozier, Perbix and Green have 3, 2 and 1 more year of college left. So we don't have too many close to being in Syracuse so he can be kept for a few more seasons as a vet presence. I thought Blujus would be kept after his ELC ended but he wasn't, I thought Dotchin wasn't going to be and he made the NHL so you never know.
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