As the 2026 NHL trade deadline nears ever closer, with just 3 days remaining, one of the hottest players potentially on the market is St Louis' Robert Thomas. The 26-year-old has 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 43 games this season, ranking 2nd on the team behind another young star in Pavel Buchnevich, who, honestly, has had his name pinged around way more trade boards than Thomas, and for much longer, dating as far back as even the 2025 trade deadline.
But there are a lot of reasons why trading Thomas for either a handful of picks or another youngster might prove costly. Here are just a few reasons why doing such a deal would absolutely bite St Louis' bottom- hard.
Thomas is a top level center with a still reasonable cap hit
At 26, Thomas has easily proved he's the best youngster among the Blues' many others, such as Jordan Kyrou, the aforementioned Buchnevich, and Jimmy Snuggerud, to name a couple. Not only that, but he's only still raking in $8 million a year and he's under contract til at least the 2030/31 season, where he'd be 32 years of age. The point is, that's not exactly a case where the Blues are in a scenario as if they'd be under or over the cap limit for the entire league, so cutting Thomas in a theoretical trade deal would yield them not all that much. Thomas' goal-scoring prowess at his position has also made him notable, as since the 2021/22 season, he's ranked just outside the top 25 centres in the entire NHL in career goals, notching 344 points in 340 games. That's one point per game in all but 4 contests- something definitely not easily maintained.
Centres Like Thomas (Almost) Never Reach Free Agency
Thomas is quite simply the kind of player you cannot replace. A real "face of the franchise" type that's definitely helped the team rebound in Thomas' case. Getting rid of him would put you back to square one, and in some extreme cases, be much worse than how good or bad the team was beforehand. Replacing Thomas without doing too much long-term damage would involve snagging a top player in the draft- and it's not like you can easily copy-paste a guy like Thomas onto that pick anyway. Ever hear of "generational talents"? That's what Thomas is, alongside guys like Snuggerud. That'd be like the Islanders getting rid of star rookie Matthew Schaffer- a monster of a mistake at the trading table.
Thomas Himself Literally Cannot Be Traded
It's true. Thomas' current contract, which started with his initial 3-year entry-level deal in 2017/18 lasting 3 years for $2.68 million, is in the 3rd year of an 8-year, $65 million extension, has what's called a "no-trade clause", meaning Thomas himself essentially has control over where he can play. He's not just an asset at this point; he's a valuable member of this team, and right now would be a horrible time to send him packing, seeing as how the Blues are in full rebuild mode, sitting at dead last in the Central Division behind regional rivals Chicago, even if it's by one single win's worth. But again, the point is that St Louis absolutely needs Thomas. They cannot afford to lose him if they want to keep the rebuild going in a positive direction.
Other reasons why St Louis shouldn't even remotely think about trading away Thomas- virtually any trade would require an equal-sized return- an example being four first-round picks, which is not only a bad trade in and of itself, but it's also difficult to secure such a deal without overpaying in the long run. And that's if the picks you get in return don't struggle anyway!
See also: Could the Blues Actually Bank Instead on a Thomas Trade Instead of Paying Dearly?