The Mammoth are among the teams that have shown interest in Robert Thomas, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on the network’s “Saturday Headlines” segment. No matter what they put forth, they’d remain one of the longer shots to land the two-time 80-point scorer if he’s moved at all. Intra-division trades involving players of his caliber are exceedingly rare.
Utah is looking into long-term moves, not the rental market, in order to help secure the franchise’s first trip to the postseason since being born from the ashes of the Coyotes, general manager Bill Armstrong told NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger this week. Thomas would be among the most impactful moves they can make. They’ve already been linked to puck-moving rearguard Dougie Hamilton in their pursuit of added offense, but adding a player of Thomas’ age and cost control is a much higher-caliber addition.
Thomas has 11 goals and 33 points in 42 games this season for St. Louis. The 26-year-old’s underlying offensive numbers have tanked, averaging 1.43 shots on goal and 2.88 shot attempts per game compared to 2.07 and 4.40 last season, respectively. That should be easily attributable to Thomas fighting through a number of injuries this season while being symptomatic of a larger offensive regression in St. Louis, where the Blues are near the bottom of the league in virtually every category.
The fact stands that over the past five years, Thomas has established himself as one of the league’s top playmaking centers. He’s averaged 60 assists and 83 points per 82 games over that span, with his 1.01 points per game ranking 23rd in the league since 2021-22 (min. 300 games played). Among players on the Mammoth’s roster, only Clayton Keller stands above him, and only narrowly.
Thomas also has five years left on his contract at a stomachable $8.125MM cap hit. He has a full no-trade clause and controls his destiny. The Blues have made it clear they’re not overly willing to dump him as part of their retooling, but will listen to offers. They’re reportedly looking for a template similar to what the Canucks acquired for franchise defender Quinn Hughes earlier this season – a package roughly equivalent to four first-round picks.
While the Blues surely won’t be excited about the prospect of moving Thomas in the division, few teams are as well-equipped to put forth a compelling offer as the Mammoth. They still have all of their firsts in the next few drafts and have a rich staple of first-round drafted prospects over the past few years to part with. 2023 selections Danil But and Dmitriy Simashev have made their debuts this season, while they’d have to consider making 2024 #6 pick Tij Iginla and 2025 #4 pick Caleb Desnoyers available as well.
OK. So I was lounging around trying to figure out what the perfect NHL player would look like. I decided it would be a guy about 25 years old, Reasonably signed who can score and play defense and has no bad injuries. So then there’s Robert Thomas. So what am I missing? This is a guy any team in the NHL should be striving for so why would the Blues want to move a guy like that? Does he hate his teammates? The GM? The city? This kind of sounds like someone is trying to start trouble for absolutely no reason at all. It’s a mystery to be sure.
@unclemike, seems like it’s a situation like the baseball Cardinals last offseason where they don’t quite know what they’re doing yet and letting the transition of GM make behind the scenes adjustments before pulling the band aid
I agree, I just don’t think Blues would actually Trade Thomas. He’s already won a Cup and I feel like the Blues would want him to possibly be a mentor for younger guys. Plus they don’t have a lot of centers in Springfield.
As a Dstars fan idk how I would feel about this, both rivals. Mammoth would benefit extraordinarily from this for 3 or 4 years, and St. Louis would almost assuredly be locked in for a top 3 pick, maybe even second
If Utah can possibly pull off getting Robert Thomas from St. Louis before the trade deadline, that would be a major additional pick up by Utah’s GM Bill Armstrong to sign, seal and deliver such a big transaction. Talk about a win of a deal if completed but only time will tell as we’ll see what happens.
Byfield, 2nd & prospect!
That offer would just get a chuckle from Blues GM Armstrong. Try harder.
Not even close.
Someone is loony toons wow for being this ignorant of 4 first rounders and yet pretend GM comes in with this thanks for the laugh
What team wouldn’t show interest in Robert Thomas? Elliotte Friedman is so insightful!!! Does Friedman actually get paid?
I don’t see it, especially at that price. Adding Thomas to that team now doesn’t make them a Cup contender. But having a top nine of Keller, Cooley, Guenther, Iginla, Desnoyers, But, Beaudoin, Hayton, and Peterka has the potential to be just devastating in a few years.