St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube told reporters today that the team will be without center Robert Thomas for an extended period of time, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford. The 21-year-old is expected to miss four to six weeks after suffering a broken thumb during Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes.
“Well, I mean, somebody else is going to get in that position and do a job for us,” said Berube. “That’s the way we’ve got to look at it. We’ve got players. We’re a deep team and that’s a good thing. Other guys get an opportunity to get in there now and play.”
Thomas was forced to leave Saturday’s game in the first period after playing in just 3:01. The injury occurred when he collided with Arizona’s Nick Schmaltz and fell hard on his left hand. Coincidentally, he did manage to score his first goal of the season in that span.
Thomas, already in his third season, is coming off a 10-goal, 42-point campain in 2019-20 and now has a goal and six points in 12 games this season, was expected to play a big role for the team this year. Thomas will now lose a large chunk of an already shortened season and force St. Louis to reach deeper into its pool of depth forwards to continue moving forward. The Blues have made no roster moves as of yet, but the team has a number of forwards who can play the center position, likely taking away some of the pressure of the injury.