Prospect Update: Keaton Thompson

By Thomas Harrington

In April 2016, Keaton Thompson decided to leave college after three years at the University of North Dakota. He signed his entry-level contract with Anaheim and joined the San Diego Gulls on an ATO. In his first full professional season, he split time between San Diego and Utah, though most of his playing time was in the AHL.

Thompson’s first year of professional hockey didn’t start out as he would have liked. San Diego had a very deep blueline last season, and he wasn’t able to get on the ice in the first month of the season. All of Shea Theodore, Brandon Montour, Jaycob Megna, Andy Welinski, Jeff Schultz, Nate Guenin, Stu Bickel, and Brian Cooper played at least 25 games for San Diego last season. With such a crowded defense, it was hard for some of the younger players to get enough playing time. In order to get Thompson some ice time, the decision was made to assign him to Utah of the ECHL. He played in four games with the Grizzlies and went scoreless. After four games in five nights, Thompson was recalled back to San Diego and made his AHL debut on November 19th. He had missed San Diego’s first 11 games of the season. However, he played well enough to quickly earn himself a consistent spot on the Gulls’ defense. Overall, he played in 52 games for the Gulls and scored four goals and 16 points. Meaning he played in 52 of San Diego’s final 57 games, pretty good for a rookie who didn’t play in the first 11 games of the season. By the time the playoffs rolled around, Thompson was a regular among San Diego’s defensive core and appeared in all 10 of their games while scoring two goals and three points.

A year ago, I said that I wanted to Thompson to just continue to play solid defensive hockey, and that’s exactly what he did. The only concern for him from last season was his struggle to get playing time early in the season and his stint in Utah. However, given how strong San Diego’s defense was, it makes sense why he wasn’t able to crack the lineup early on. What is impressive is how quickly he became a fixture on defense.

This coming season, I want Thompson to keep playing solid defensive hockey for the Gulls, and hopefully chip in with a little more offense. More importantly, assuming he’s healthy, I want Thompson to play at least 60 games and not be sent to the ECHL this year. Given how last season went, that should be more than doable for him. Finally, as an incredibly outside shot, it would be nice to see him make his NHL debut, though I don’t think that will happen this coming season. Both the Ducks and Gulls will once again be loaded with defensive talent, but with Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen possibly missing the beginning of the season, there could be an open roster spot or two in Anaheim to start the season. Personally, I don’t think Thompson is ready to take that step, but he has an outside chance. Instead, what I’d like to see is for Thompson to step up and be one of San Diego’s best defensemen while others are brought up to Anaheim. If he can do that, I think he’ll have an excellent shot of making his NHL debut in the 2018-2019 season.

Thompson has two more years left on his entry-level deal and will be a restricted free agent when it’s over. Thompson has never been a big-time point producer from the blueline; his career high in goals was three and points was 17 in the NCAA. He’s a defensive minded player first who can chip in with the occasional assist or goal. As a result, it will be hard for him to stand out as a young defenseman in a system with so much talent. However, if he can continue to develop into a solid defensive defenseman over the next couple of season, I do think that he’ll be re-signed when the time comes. It will likely be to another two-way contract unless he can really impress over the next couple of seasons.

My next prospect update will be on Tyler Soy.

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August 28th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, Ducks, ducksnpucks, Keaton Thompson, Prospect update