San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has re-signed defenseman Henry Thrun to a two-year contract worth $2 million ($1 million AAV).
“Henry has been a reliable addition to our defense corps since he joined the organization,” said Grier. “We are encouraged by his development since he came to San Jose and look forward to seeing him continue to grow his game with our club.”
Thrun, 23, appeared in 51 games for the Sharks, scoring 11 points (three goals, eight assists) and totaling 16 penalty minutes. The 2023-24 Sharks Rookie of the Year ranked 10th among NHL rookie defensemen in points, sixth in average time on ice (TOI) per game (20:00), and was third in penalty kill TOI (86:07). Thrun was also one of three rookie defensemen to log at least 25 minutes of ice time in a game four or more times (Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild; Luke Hughes, Vancouver Canucks). He registered his first career NHL goal on Jan. 9, 2024 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In his NHL career, all with San Jose, he has appeared in 59 games and recorded 14 points (three goals, 11 assists).
Prior to joining the Sharks, Thrun appeared in 99 career NCAA games with Harvard, recording 84 points (17 goals, 67 assists). In the 2022-23 season, he posted 33 points (seven goals, 26 assists), a plus-20 rating and 14 penalty minutes in 33 games and helped Harvard University (ECAC) earn a NCAA Tournament berth. He earned several end-of-season honors, including ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year, First Team All-ECAC and First Team All-Ivy. Thrun was named ECAC Defender of the Month in Nov. 2022, after picking up nine points (three goals, six assists) during the month. The prior year, he was named Second Team AHCA All-American, First Team All-Ivy and Second Team All-ECAC Hockey honors after recording 32 points (seven goals and a team-high 25 assists) to go along with a plus-15 rating in 35 games. He finished eighth among all NCAA defensemen and tops among ECAC Hockey blueliners in scoring (.91 points per game).
In his rookie season of 2019-20, he was one of the top scoring rookie defensemen in all of college hockey, recording 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) in 31 games (6th, NCAA among first year blueliners) and he led Harvard with a plus-17 rating. He was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team and was an ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman finalist.
Thrun played extensively with USA Hockey before his collegiate career as a member of the US NTDP U-18 Team during the 2018-19 season, posting 37 points (eight goals, 29 assists) in 64 games and won a bronze medal with the U.S. U18 team at the IIHF World U18 Championships in 2019. Additionally, he was selected for the 2018 All-American Prospects Game, won a gold medal at the 2017 U17 World Hockey Challenge, was a 2018 Five Nations Champion and 2017 Four Nations Champion and a member of USA Hockey’s gold medal-winning 2021 World Junior Championships team, notching one assist and a plus-six rating in seven games.
The six-foot-two, 190-pound native of Southborough, Massachusetts was originally selected by Anaheim in the 2019 NHL Draft (fourth round, 101st overall). He was acquired by San Jose from Anaheim in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft on Feb. 28, 2023.
