Thomas, 52, has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he helped guide the club to back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015. The Stockport, England, native first joined the Lightning as player development coach in 2012, overseeing all of the team’s prospects in the junior and college ranks.
During his 20-year NHL career, Thomas dressed in 1,235 regular season games between stints with Toronto, Chicago, New York (Islanders), New Jersey, Anaheim and Detroit. Overall, he accumulated 933 points and 1,306 penalty minutes during his regular season career, while he also recorded 107 points in 174 career playoff appearances.