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Chris Bigras
Born (1995-02-22)February 22, 1995,
Orillia, Ontario, Canada
Height
Weight
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Defence
Shoots Left
NHL team (P)
Cur. team
F. teams
Philadelphia Flyers
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL)
Colorado Avalanche
NHL Draft 32nd overall, 2013
Colorado Avalanche
Playing career 2015–present

Christopher Bigras (born February 22, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bigras was selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round (32nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He was born in Orillia, Ontario, but grew up in Elmvale, Ontario.

Playing career[]

Junior[]

As a youth, Bigras played in the 2008 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Barrie Colts minor ice hockey team.[1] He later played junior ice hockey with the Owen Sound Attack in the Ontario Hockey League. During the 2012–13 season he played with Team Canada to win gold medals at both the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships. He was rated as a top prospect eligible for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft before he was selected by the Avalanche.[2]

During his first training camp with the Avalanche, Bigras impressed immediately from the blueline and was signed to a three-year entry level contract with the Avalanche on September 17, 2013.[3] His performance was praised by head coach Patrick Roy and as a result, he was amongst the final cuts in being returned to the Attack of the OHL for the 2013–14 season.[4] Bigras was named as an Alternate captain and although failing to reproduce his previous season offensive numbers with a weaker Owen Sound squad, he was voted by the league's coaches as the OHL best defensive defenseman.[5]

Over the summer, Bigras attended Canada's National junior development camp before participating in his second training camp with the Avalanche. Bigras failed to replicate his form from his initial camp and was reassigned to Owen Sound at the conclusion of camp. In his last season of junior in 2014–15, Bigras was relied upon as the Attack's number one defenseman. He continued his development to break out offensively in leading all blueline teammates in each scoring category with 20 goals, 51 assists and 71 points in 62 games, finishing second in the OHL. He earnt selection to the OHL First All-Star team and surpassed Owen Sound All-time scoring records in leading the club amongst defenseman with 120 assists and 155 points in his junior career.[6]

Professional[]

After a first round defeat in the post-season signalling the conclusion of his OHL career, Bigras was signed to an amateur try-out contract with the Avalanche's AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters on April 7, 2015 and made his debut that night against the Chicago Wolves. Bigras recorded his first professional point, an assist, in the following game against the Rochester Americans on April 9. With the Monsters out of playoff contention, he finished the campaign with 4 assists in 7 games.

Bigras was assigned to begin his first full professional season in 2015–16 season, with new Avalanche AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.[7] He established himself amongst top-pairing minutes with the Rampage, appearing in every contest and placing second amongst the defense in scoring before he received his first NHL recall to the Avalanche on January 13, 2016.[8] Bigras made his NHL debut with the Avalanche in a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on January 14, 2016.[9] He collected his first NHL point on an assist in the following game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 16.[10] Bigras was initially placed on the third pairing to continue his development, showing his defensive prowess, before scoring his first NHL goal in his 21st game in a 6-3 defeat to the Minnesota Wild on February 2, 2016.[11]

In the 2017–18 season, Bigras made the Avalanche opening night roster out of training camp. He appeared in 15 games with the Avalanche, registering a lone assist before he was reassigned to the San Antonio Rampage on November 28, 2017.[12] Bigras suffered an injury with the Rampage and was limited to 20 games before he was dealt by the Avalanche at the NHL trade deadline to the New York Rangers in exchange for Ryan Graves on February 26, 2018.[13]

Following the conclusion of his contract with the Rangers, Bigras was not tendered a qualifying offer and was released as a free agent on June 25, 2019.[14] Bigras was signed to a two-year, two-way contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on July 1, 2019.[15]

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2011–12 Owen Sound Attack OHL 49 3 16 19 33 5 2 3 5 0
2012–13 Owen Sound Attack OHL 68 8 30 38 34 12 0 2 2 8
2013–14 Owen Sound Attack OHL 55 4 22 26 46 5 1 2 3 4
2014–15 Owen Sound Attack OHL 62 20 51 71 52 5 1 2 3 4
2014–15 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 7 0 4 4 2
2015–16 San Antonio Rampage AHL 37 6 13 19 6
2015–16 Colorado Avalanche NHL 31 1 2 3 16
2016–17 San Antonio Rampage AHL 45 5 14 19 37
2017–18 Colorado Avalanche NHL 15 0 1 1 2
2017–18 San Antonio Rampage AHL 20 1 5 6 14
2017–18 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 18 2 11 13 8
2018–19 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 52 3 19 22 36
2019–20 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 39 2 14 16 22
NHL totals 46 1 3 4 18

International[]

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2012 Canada Ontario U17 Bronze medal icon 6 1 1 2 2
2012 Canada IH18 Gold medal icon 5 0 0 0 2
2013 Canada WJC18 Gold medal icon 7 0 3 3 0
2014 Canada WJC 4th 7 0 0 0 0
Junior totals 25 1 4 5 4

Awards and honours[]

Award Year
OHL
First All-Star Team 2015 [16]
International
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament Gold Medal 2012 [17]
IIHF World U18 Championship Gold Medal 2013 [18]

References[]

  1. Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA (2018).
  2. Bigras drawing attention for 2013 draft. USA Today (2013-06-21). Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved on 2013-06-21.
  3. Avalanche signs Chris Bigras. Colorado Avalanche (2013-09-17). Retrieved on 2013-09-17.
  4. Avs send Chris Bigras to junior. The Score (2013-09-26). Retrieved on 2013-09-26.
  5. Chris Bigras unlikely to play with team next season. Denver Post (2014-03-27). Retrieved on 2014-03-27.
  6. Bigras honoured for points record. Owen Sound Sun Times (2015-02-25). Retrieved on 2015-02-25.
  7. Bigras to make NHL debut Vs. Devils. Colorado Avalanche (2016-01-14). Retrieved on 2016-01-14.
  8. Avs place Nate Guenin on waivers, recall Bigras and Zadorov. Denver Post (2016-01-13). Retrieved on 2016-01-13.
  9. Pickard stops 27 shots to help Avalanche beat Devils 3-0. CBS Sports (2016-01-14). Retrieved on 2016-01-14.
  10. Johnson scores late to give Blue Jackets victory over Avalanche. CBS Sports (2016-01-16). Retrieved on 2016-01-16.
  11. Chris Bigras scores 1st NHL goal. Colorado Avalanche (2016-03-02). Retrieved on 2016-03-02.
  12. Bigras and Mironov re-assigned to Rampage. Colorado Avalanche (2017-11-28). Retrieved on 2017-11-28.
  13. Rangers Acquire Defenseman Chris Bigras (February 26, 2018). Retrieved on February 27, 2018.
  14. Chris Bigras not tendered by New York. CBS Sports (June 25, 2019). Retrieved on June 25, 2019.
  15. Flyers free agency tracker. Philadelphia Flyers (July 1, 2019). Retrieved on July 1, 2019.
  16. OHL Announces 2014-15 All-Star Teams. Ontario Hockey League (2015-05-20). Retrieved on 2015-05-20.
  17. 22 CHL players win 2012 Ivan Hlinka Gold. Canadian Hockey League (2012-09-21). Retrieved on 2012-09-21.
  18. Canada's National Men's Under-18 Team wins gold medal at 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. Hockey Canada (2013-03-02). Retrieved on 2013-03-02.

External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Chris Bigras. 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).


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