Spirit sign 2017 CHL Import draft pick Tom Bappert to OHL standard player agreement

Saginaw Spirit GM Dave Drinkill announced the signing of 2017 Canadian Hockey League import draft second round pick Tom Bappert to an Ontario Hockey League standard player agreement on Wednesday afternoon.

 

“As an organization, we are pleased that Tom has signed a standard player agreement with the Spirit,” Drinkill said in a press release. “Having gotten to know him a little bit through this process, you can see he is a person of high character and is also passionate about coming to play in Saginaw. We look forward to watching him develop with this group and bring some leadership to our back end.”

 

The Spirit had two available picks in the 2017 CHL import draft (each CHL roster is allowed just 2-import players) due to the departure of Markus Niemelainen (a third round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, 63 overall, in the 2016 NHL draft) and Filip Hronek (a second round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, 53 overall, in the 2016 NHL draft) last spring. 

 

After losing Hronek and Niemelainen, the Spirit decided to make the 18 year old defenseman from Menden, Germany its second selection in the import draft, after picking forward Martin Necas of the Czech Republic (who had just been drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round, 12th overall, in the 2017 NHL draft) with its first selection.

 

The 6-foot, 183-pound Bappert tallied 26-points (7-goals, 19-assists) in 38-games last year for Kolner EC U-19 in the Deutsche Nachwuchs Liga (German development league) which is considered the elite junior hockey league of the German Ice Hockey Federation. 

 

Bappert also had 4-points (2-goals, 2-assists) in 5-games as captain of the U-18 German National Team at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation U-18 World Junior Championships in Bled, Slovenia and Poprad, Slovakia this past April. 

 

The left shooting defenseman, will compliment returning Spirit right-shooting defensemen Marcus Crawford, Hayden Davis, and Brock Hill on the back end, joining left-shooting defensemen Keaton Middleton (a fourth round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2016 NHL draft) and Chet Phillips to bolster the Saginaw rear guard. 

 

Bappert will join recently hired Spirit coach Troy Smith and his teammates in just 17 days when everyone reports for training camp on Mon. Aug. 28, at the Dow Event Center in preperation for the 2017-18 OHL season.