Robert Thomas has spent enough time being the steady face of the St. Louis Blues that the next step feels less like a question and more like a matter of timing.
For much of the second-half of the 2025-26 season, and even leading up to the NHL Draft, the Blues had Thomas out there as a name other teams could circle. That changed. He is now off-limits, and the message is clear: this is Thomas’ team going forward.
That shift comes at a good time for a player who has kept producing through all the disappointment around him. Thomas has stayed loyal to St.
Louis and kept giving the Blues as much as he can. Now he is entering his prime with a roster that is being retooled around younger, eager players.
There are two obvious ways that loyalty could get rewarded.
The first is the captaincy. After the trade of Brayden Schenn before the trade deadline, the Blues no longer have a captain.
A new one probably will not be named before the 2026-27 season, though Alexander Steen is now running the show as General Manager and anything can happen. Still, the timing does not feel right for an immediate decision.
When the club does make that call, Thomas is not a lock, but he looks like the front-runner to wear the letter. He has been an alternate captain for years, and he has been this team’s best player for just as long. Season after season, he has led the way in points, and the Blues are now being built squarely around him as the first-line center.
It would make perfect sense to give No. 18 the nod, even if Jimmy Snuggerud and Philip Broberg could also make a case.
The second reward is the bigger one: helping the Blues win their second Stanley Cup.
Thomas was a rookie when St. Louis won its first one, and the 19-year-old made a name for himself in that playoff run. In a few years, once the growing pains of this young core have faded and the championship window opens, he should be right there again.
No. 18 will be a major reason why the Blues can get back to the hardest prize in the sport, and he can absolutely help them win it.
In Other News...
Blues Fans Should Watch Justin Carbonneaus Timeline Very Closely This Camp
Justin Carbonneau is heading into his second training camp with the Blues, and this one feels a little different. As St. Louis 2025 first-round pick and one of the organizations top prospects, he is still more likely to need time in the AHL than to jump straight into the NHL, but the door is not closed. With a new general manager in Alexander Steen and a clear emphasis on getting younger, Carbonneau enters camp with a real chance to change the conversation.
His path will come down to how he handles the preseason and whether he looks ready to force the issue over the next few weeks. The Blues have reasons to be patient, but they also have reasons to keep an open mind if Carbonneau stands out in camp. For a prospect at this stage, that kind of opportunity can turn a routine September into something much more interesting. [Read more 🡒]
Did The Blues Finally Fix Their Biggest Roster Problem
The Blues spent much of last season searching for balance, and the early returns were uneven before the post-Olympic break surge finally gave the roster a clearer shape. The Snuggerud-Thomas-Holloway line helped drive that turnaround, giving St. Louis one of its most effective forward combinations and showing the kind of three-man chemistry the club had been missing during the slow start.
Even so, the bigger issue never fully went away. St. Louis leaned heavily on its top line for offense down the stretch, which is why the front office spent the offseason trying to widen the center pool and spread the scoring around. Robert Thomas, Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael, Dalibor Dvorsky and Pius Suter all arrived with the same basic goal in mind, and now the real question is whether the Blues have finally built enough depth to keep one line from carrying so much of the load. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Home Opener Reveal Sets The Tone For The Steen Era
The NHLs release of home openers gave the Blues a clear starting point for the new season, and it comes with a familiar opponent in San Jose on Oct. 8. It also gives St. Louis an early chance to reset the tone at home as the club opens the Alexander Steen era and begins its first 84-game schedule.
There is some recent history to lean on, too, since the Blues handled the Sharks in two of three meetings last season and needed overtime twice to do it. San Jose will bring a new layer of intrigue as well, with Macklin Celebrini emerging as the kind of top-line threat that can change the feel of a matchup quickly, so this opener should tell a lot about where the Blues stand right away. [Read more 🡒]