| A. J. Thelen | |
| Position | Defense |
| Shoots | Left |
| Height Weight |
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 212 lb (96 kg) |
| ECHL Team F. Teams |
Florida Everblades Texas Wildcatters AHL Houston Aeros Rochester Americans |
| Nationality |  American
|
| Born | March 11, 1986, Savage, MN, USA |
| NHL Draft | 12th overall, 2004 Minnesota Wild |
| Pro Career | 2006 – present |
A. J. Thelen (born March 11, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who plays for the Florida Everblades of the ECHL and was a prospect for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Playing career[]
After playing for the U.S. National Under-18 Development Program in 2002–03, Thelen joined Michigan State University to play college hockey. After his freshman season in 2003–04, he was drafted in the first round, 12th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Following his sophomore season with Michigan State, however, he was dismissed by the league for rules infractions.
Accordingly, he joined the major junior Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Prince Albert Raiders. Upon completing his first season in the WHL, Thelen was assigned by the Wild to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Houston Aeros, where he made his professional debut, playing in one game. The next season, in 2006–07, after missing some time due to a knee sprain, Thelen was traded by the Raiders to the Vancouver Giants, in exchange for defenseman John Flatters and prospect Nathan Deck, where he captured the 2007 Memorial Cup championship with the Giants as tournament hosts.
Unsigned by the Wild out of major junior, Thelen turned pro in the ECHL with the Texas Wildcatters, tallying 35 points in his rookie season. In 2008–09, Thelen joined the Florida Everblades.
Career statistics[]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2002–03 | USNTDP | NAHL | 44 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | Michigan State University | CCHA | 42 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 50 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004–05 | Michigan State University | CCHA | 33 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Prince Albert Raiders | WHL | 72 | 13 | 23 | 36 | 79 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Houston Aeros | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006–07 | Prince Albert Raiders | WHL | 23 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006–07 | Vancouver Giants | WHL | 30 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 35 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 18 | ||
| 2007–08 | Texas Wildcatters | ECHL | 63 | 7 | 28 | 35 | 70 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2008–09 | Florida Everblades | ECHL | 34 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 2009–10 | Florida Everblades | ECHL | 48 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| AHL Totals | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
External links[]
| Preceded by Brent Burns |
Minnesota Wild first round draft pick 2004 |
Succeeded by Benoit Pouliot |
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at A. J. Thelen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |