St. Louis Blues News: Robert Thomas Out With Broken Thumb

The St. Louis Blues were hoping 2021 would be a true breakout year for Robert Thomas. It’s his third season in the NHL and it seemed as though the Blues would have the complimentary pieces to really set him up for success.

The team did everything correct out of the gate. They put him in the middle with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz and, based on the team’s first game, that looked like a dynamite combination.

Things have not gone as well since then. Thomas does have six points in 12 games, but they have not been as impactful as you’d like.

His ice time has diminished too, going from the team’s top line back down to the third line. Special teams, especially the amount the penalty kill has been on the ice, does affect that, but only so much.

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It looked like things might turn around. Thomas scored a goal against the Arizona Coyotes based purely on second effort and he was meshing well with Ivan Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist.

After playing less than four minutes in that game, things went wrong quickly. Thomas landed awkwardly after a hit and never returned to the game.

Now, we’ve found out what is wrong and how severe. Thomas suffered a broken thumb and will miss the next four to six weeks.

This is just another blow to a player that had not had much luck of late. Thomas was brilliant at first, but there seemed to be a loss of confidence and Thomas was making more mistakes.

Perhaps the time away will allow him to watch the game from the press box and get a fresh perspective. It will definitely not help the Blues.

Given all the injuries they have right now, the team’s fourth line to start the season will essentially become the third line. The Blues cannot afford to play with 11 forwards, so they will need to figure out who can fill the voids best.

The blow would have been swallowed easier if Tyler Bozak was healthy. You could just move him back to center and plug-and-play the rest.

This injury will definitely test the team’s depth. The current injury situation might be the only bright spot to there being some gaps between games that were not originally sheduled.