Paul Thompson (ice hockey player, 1988)

Paul Thompson
Date of birth	November 30, 1988
place of birth	Methuen , Massachusetts , USA
size	184 cm
Weight	90 kg
position	Right wing
Shot hand	Right
Career stations
2005-2007	New Hampshire Junior Monarchs
2007-2011	University of New Hampshire
2011-2014	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
2014	Springfield Falcons
2014-2016	Albany Devils
2016-2017	Florida Panthers Springfield Thunderbirds
2017-2018	Chicago Wolves
since 2018	Florida Panthers Springfield Thunderbirds

Paul Thompson (born November 30, 1988 in Methuen , Massachusetts ) is an American ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League since July 2018 and for their farm team , the Springfield Thunderbirds , in the American Hockey League plays on the position of the right winger . His cousin Mike Souza was also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Thompson was born in Methuen , Massachusetts , but spent his childhood in Derry , New Hampshire . There he played until 2007 in the Eastern Junior Hockey League for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs . In the 2006/07 season he was the league's most valuable player at the age of 16 , having scored the most goals and accumulated the most scorer points . In the summer of 2007, the striker began his studies at the University of New Hampshire . In parallel, he played for the university's ice hockey team in Hockey East , a division in the game operations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Especially in his fourth and final year there, Thompson was able to recommend himself as a top scorer and with numerous awards for a career in the professional field, after he was not considered in the previous NHL Entry Drafts .

Finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins from the National Hockey League secured the attacker's service for two years in March 2011, during which time they used him in their farm team , the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins , in the American Hockey League until the summer of 2013 . They then extended his contract for a year, but transferred him to Columbus Blue Jackets in February 2014 during the 2013/14 season . In return, Spencer Machacek moved to Pittsburgh. The Blue Jackets gave Thompson no chance to gain a foothold in the NHL and let him accrue to the end of the season with the Springfield Falcons in the AHL. The franchise did not extend his expiring contract and so the free agent was signed by the Albany Devils from the AHL. Since he knew how to convince with 55 scorer points in the 2014/15 season , he received a new two-year contract in summer 2015 from Albany's cooperation partner from the NHL, the New Jersey Devils . This continued to use him in the AHL, but also helped him to make his NHL debut over the course of the season, where he was used three times.

During the summer break in June 2016, Thompson again became part of a transfer business. Together with Graham Black , he was given to the Florida Panthers , who in return ceded a second-round right to vote in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and the contract of the disabled high-earner Marc Savard to New Jersey. With the Panthers, Thompson did not succeed in earning a regular place in the NHL squad in the pre-season, but was an integral part of the same from the beginning of December 2016 to the beginning of February 2017, before he was again in the squad for the Springfield Thunderbirds farm team .

After the 2016/17 season, his expiring contract in Florida was not extended, so Thompson joined the newly founded Vegas Golden Knights as a free agent in July 2017 . In July 2018, Thompson also signed a two-year contract with the Florida Panthers.

Achievements and Awards

2010 Hockey East All-Academic Team 2011 Hockey East First All-Star Team 2011 Hockey East Player of the Year

2011 Hockey East Three Stars Award 2011 NCAA East First All-American Team 2015 AHL All-Star Classic

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2007/08	University of New Hampshire	Hockey East		35	6th	6th	12	22nd
2008/09	University of New Hampshire	Hockey East		27	4th	5	9	22nd
2009/10	University of New Hampshire	Hockey East		39	19th	20th	39	24
2010/11	University of New Hampshire	Hockey East		39	28	24	52	32
2010/11	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		6th	1	2	3	2		4th	0	1	1	2
2011/12	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		67	10	15th	25th	37		12	2	1	3	2
2011/12	Wheeling Nailers	ECHL		1	1	1	2	0		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		58	20th	9	29	84		15th	3	3	6th	21st
2013/14	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		39	4th	3	7th	50		-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	Springfield Falcons	AHL		30th	4th	4th	8th	50		5	0	0	0	5
2014/15	Albany Devils	AHL		73	33	22nd	55	67		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Albany Devils	AHL		56	13	22nd	35	96		10	3	1	4th	16
2015/16	New Jersey Devils	NHL		3	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Springfield Thunderbirds	AHL		51	19th	23	42	57		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Florida panthers	NHL		21st	0	3	3	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Chicago Wolves	AHL		76	24	14th	38	108		3	0	0	0	2
2018/19	Springfield Thunderbirds	AHL		72	26th	27	53	111		-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Springfield Thunderbirds	AHL		54	13	15th	28	70		-	-	-	-	-
NCAA overall				140	57	55	112	100
AHL total				582	167	156	323	732		49	8th	6th	14th	48
NHL overall				24	0	3	3	24		-	-	-	-	-

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Player biography on the Florida Panthers website
• Paul Thompson at eliteprospects.com (English)