{"id":429162,"date":"2026-01-26T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/429162\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:02:13","slug":"blues-will-enter-new-era-if-robert-thomas-leaves-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/429162\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues Will Enter New Era If Robert Thomas Leaves \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trade rumors are kicking up as the March 6th Trade Deadline draws near. Central to recent discussion is St. Louis Blues top center Robert Thomas<\/a>, who appears set to enter the prime years of his career on a team that\u2019s falling short. That rift has opened discussions around Thomas\u2019 future in St. Louis. The Blues would be open to moving their star, only if they receive an offer they can\u2019t refuse or a younger, top-six forward per Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman on the January 23rd episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/a>. It\u2019s no surprise that St. Louis would need a convincing offer \u2013 moving on from Thomas would quickly thrust the franchise into its next era.<\/p>\n

The search for a true top-center is a race every team must run. St. Louis has historically done well at making sure that role is locked down at all times. Hall-of-Famer Pierre Turgeon<\/a> passed the title to Doug Weight<\/a> in the early 2000\u2019s, only for Keith Tkachuk<\/a> to take over before the 2010\u2019s. By then, St. Louis ahd promoted David Backes<\/a> into a daily lineup role. He would go on to captain the team until 2016, when he moved to the Boston Bruins. That decision left St. Louis with a vacancy \u2013 briefly filled by Brayden Schenn<\/a> \u2013 that they didn\u2019t fully fill until acquiring Ryan O\u2019Reilly<\/a> ahead of their Stanley Cup-winning 2018-19 season.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly separated from the Blues in 2023. By then, Thomas had reached 23 years old and nearly 300 games of NHL experience. He was ready to take on a true starring role, made evident by the 65 points he scored in 73 games of the 2022-23 campaign \u2013 then, a stout follow-up to the 77 points he scored in 2021-22. Thomas began receiving 20 minutes of ice time routinely following O\u2019Reilly\u2019s departure. He stood up to St. Louis\u2019 top role \u2013 once filled by current and future Hall-of-Famers \u2013 with glowing results.<\/p>\n

Thomas scored 26 goals and 86 points while playing all 82 games of the 2023-24 season, his first year as St. Louis\u2019 unimpeded #1. He became the first Blue to reach the 60-assist mark in the 2000\u2019s, and the first since Craig Janney<\/a> in 1994. Like Janney, Thomas went back-to-back with the accolade, recording 21 goals and 81 points in 70 games last season.<\/p>\n

The consecutive performances were more than lightning striking twice. Thomas became the central core of St. Louis\u2019 offense in the top role. His versatility was invaluable as the Blues figured out how to deploy north-south scorer Jordan Kyrou<\/a>, and youngsters like Jake Neighbours<\/a>, without getting burned. Thomas did it all, showing just as much flash in puck battles against the end-boards as he did in open space at the tops of the circles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Thomas\u2019 success became a forgone conclusion after another statement year last season. With a faceoff percentage consistently north of 50 percent, and plenty of intangibles, the Blues had molded another well-rounded star into their top center role. But the 2025-26 season has disappointed. St. Louis ranks dead-last in the NHL in goals scored (126) which has cut Thomas\u2019 scoring down to 33 points in 42 games \u2013 still the most on the team by five points.<\/p>\n

At 26, Thomas is stepping into the golden years of his career. He has already won one Stanley Cup in St. Louis but may not have too many more chances to chase another with the club\u2019s current trajectory. The Blues are set to turn over their general manager chair to rookie manager Alexander Steen<\/a> this summer. Once a candidate for St. Louis\u2019 top-center role himself, Steen will face the task of pushing the Blues forward after \u2013 presumably \u2013 their third playoff miss in the last four seasons. The prospect cupboards are stocked \u2013 with top prospects like Dalibor Dvorsky<\/a>, Dylan Holloway<\/a>, and Jimmy Snuggerud<\/a> already making a splash in the NHL.<\/p>\n

If that young success will be enough to convince St. Louis to separate with their true star is unclear. Thomas has found deep roots with the Blues and offers enough talent to lift a rocky ship, with the right pieces around him. He could lead St. Louis back to the postseason within a couple years just as well as he could fetch them a hefty return on the open market. How the Blues weigh those outcomes could go a far way in showing their long-term trust in smooth-face GM Steen and his ability to find another top center.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trade rumors are kicking up as the March 6th Trade Deadline draws near. Central to recent discussion is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[71,5,4,697,1482,534,84,5285,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-429162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","12":"tag-robert-thomas","13":"tag-st-louis","14":"tag-st-louis-blues","15":"tag-stlouis","16":"tag-stlouisblues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115962482124013718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}