Robert Thomas enters his first season as captain with a pretty clear checklist if the St. Louis Blues want to call it a success.
The Blues officially made Thomas their 25th captain in franchise history, and he’ll have four alternates alongside him to form the team’s leadership group. With training camp and the preseason only a few weeks away, the 2026-27 season is about to move fast. The 84-game regular season opens October 2 in Dallas.
So what has to go right for Thomas’ first year wearing the “C” to be viewed as a win?
First, the Blues have to show they’re a team that sticks up for each other.
This roster is built to be tough, physical, and gritty from top to bottom. Every line has a bruiser willing to answer the bell for a teammate, and that needs to be part of the team’s identity under Thomas.
That doesn’t mean the Blues lacked that edge under Brayden Schenn, but this group is different from last season’s version. There are plenty of new faces on the 23-man roster, both up front and on the blue line, plus a wave of younger talent pushing up from the AHL.
Thomas also needs to deliver individually, and that means getting over the 100-point mark.
With Jimmy Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway skating beside him, there isn’t much left to hide behind offensively. Thomas is going to carry a heavy load this season, handling captain’s responsibilities while centering the top scoring line, but he’s also entering his prime. General manager Alexander Steen clearly believes he can handle it, and he wouldn’t have made the move this quickly after taking over if he didn’t think No. 18 was ready.
And then there’s the biggest item of all: the playoffs.
Even with the added pieces and a stronger leadership group, the Blues still aren’t being treated like a sure thing for the 2026-27 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They’re viewed more as a middle-of-the-pack team, one that might need another late-season surge to sneak in or could just miss out altogether.
For Thomas, the goal has to be simple: get this team back into the postseason.
That’s the standard set by previous Blues captains. Alex Pietrangelo and Ryan O'Reilly both led the team to the playoffs in their first seasons as captain.
Schenn did not. Now it’s on Thomas to put that run back on track.