We've spent the weekend breaking down the five players on the St. Louis Blues who appeared on the latest version of The Athletic's trade board (including one who didn't make the cut), and now we come to the fifth and final one. He may be last, but he's certainly not least, as top-line center Robert Thomas rounds out the list.
For teams in the Blues' position (circling the drain, shuffling around the bottom of the standings), selling off veteran players for future assets makes sense--it's why you can justify moving on from Justin Faulk or Jordan Binnington, considering they have only one additional year on their contracts and don't fit the Blues' current competitive timeline. A Jordan Kyrou trade, on the other hand, would signal a shift to a much lengthier rebuild; it would mean the Blues front office doesn't see the team being a winner while Kyrou's in his prime.
Trading Robert Thomas, however, would be seismic. Top-line, 80-point a year centers are highly sought-after assets in the NHL, and they are difficult to acquire--especially centers in their prime. Thomas, who controls his destiny with a no-trade clause on his $8.125-million AAV contract, would be the belle of the ball if he's truly available to be traded. If Thomas were flexible about trade destinations, GM Doug Armstrong could likely extract a king's ransom in any transaction; it could put the Blues in an excellent position for the future.
In the short term, however, it means the Blues are going to be bad--probably top of the draft lottery bad--for a handful of years. While Dalibor Dvorsky is a solid center prospect, he doesn't have the profile of a first-line center--nor is he playing like one if he were suddenly thrust into the role where a trade to happen tomorrow. Pius Suter has been admirable as a middle-six center and has played above his head for stretches in his career, but he brings only a fraction of what Thomas does.
That's not to say trading Thomas is inherently bad; for the right return (think premium draft picks and/or high-end, young prospects), it could work out for the Blues in the long run. Over the next couple of years, though, it will likely be a painful process for the Blues, as there'd be a void at the top of the lineup that nobody seems poised to fill.
Return aside, the messaging of a Thomas trade would be clear: this team, as constructed, is not good enough to win now or in the near-enough future to benefit from its best players, Thomas and Kyrou, being in their primes. With how this season's been going, and the potential for other trade deadline subtractions, that very well may be the case.