Wayne Thomas (ice hockey)
Wayne Thomas ( born September 9, 1947 in Ottawa, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender and current coach and - functionary. During his career he played 1972-1981 for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. During the 2002/ 03 season, he took over for a short time the post of general manager of the San Jose Sharks. He is currently Vice President, Assistant General Manager and goalkeeper coach of the team from Northern California as well as general manager of the Worcester Sharks.
Career as a player
Thomas played during his college days at the University of Minnesota Duluth and University of Wisconsin - Madison. But before he played his first NHL game, he was first transferred from the Toronto Maple Leafs to Los Angeles Kings and of these, two years later to the Montreal Canadiens. He stood there in January 1973 for the first time in goal in an NHL game. By the end of the season 1974/75, in which he played no game, Thomas stayed with the Canadiens. In the summer of 1975, the Canadian returned to Toronto, where he remained for two years and was invited to the NHL All-Star Game in 1976. Shortly after the beginning of the season 1977/78 took him the New York Rangers of the waiver list under contract, in which he played until the end of the 1980/81 season. Then he ended his active career and joined the coaching staff of the Rangers.
NHL stats
Career as coach and general manager
For four years Thomas was an assistant coach of the Rangers, before he took his first job as head coach for the 1985/86 season. In the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the International Hockey League ( IHL ), he took over as coach for two seasons and won the 1986 Turner Cup, before he returned in the 1987/88 season as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL. There he remained only one year. He left the NHL back in the direction of IHL, this time for two years as head coach of the Peoria Rivermen. For the 1991/92 season the Canadians came back to the NHL. In services of the St. Louis Blues, he was an assistant coach behind the band until 1993. Since 1993, Thomas has been working in the system of the franchise of the San Jose Sharks. From 1993 to 1996 he was assistant coach under Kevin Constantine and Jim Wiley. He then began his career as a general manager. His first stop was the Kentucky Thoroughblades, a former farm team of the Sharks, with whom Thomas moved to Cleveland in the summer of 2001, and thus general manager of the Cleveland Barons was. After the Sharks the then General Manager Dean Lombardi dismissed during the 2002/ 03 season, Thomas took over for the rest of the season, the office of General Manager of the NHL teams. Since the season 2006/ 07 he became General Manager of the Worcester Sharks, the team follow the Cleveland Barons. In addition, he has worked as assistant to the general manager of the San Jose Sharks and Vice President of the organization. Since the death of Warren Strelow in April 2007, he also works as a goalkeeping coach of the NHL team, with the assistance since the summer of 2008 by ex- goalie Corey Schwab.