Seven games into the season, the Blues are already staring at a familiar and uncomfortable question: is Robert Thomas doing enough?
The captain has gotten off to a slow start, and that matters because St. Louis made a clear decision on him last season.
The club chose not to trade him, brought him back, and handed him the captaincy. That bet looked deliberate then, and it looks even more scrutinized now with fans openly wondering whether the team should have gone a different direction.
The frustration is easy to understand. Thomas is viewed as the Blues’ best player, and the team’s playoff outlook is tied to him playing like it.
He has not produced at the level expected so far, and that lack of offense is the core of the concern. Still, seven games is a tiny slice of a season, and that’s why this is not yet the moment to hit the panic button.
The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford said the questions around Thomas aren’t new. According to Rutherford, the organization was already wrestling with them internally last season, and the discussion carried into the summer when Thomas met with new general manager Alexander Steen. The answer then was a vote of confidence.
Rutherford’s view is that the concern makes sense, but it’s still too early to treat it like a crisis. He continues to see Thomas as St.
Louis’ top player, and he believes the Blues need him to deliver if they want to stay in the postseason mix. At the same time, he doesn’t excuse the slow start.
Thomas has to produce, and that burden sits on his shoulders. The captaincy could be part of the equation, though Thomas accepted that responsibility when it was given to him.
For now, the sample size is the key point. Seven games doesn’t tell the whole story, and Rutherford believes Thomas has enough talent to carry the load.
The conversation changes only if the cold stretch keeps going. “If we’re having this conversation after 20 or 25 games, there’s reason to be alarmed,” writes Rutherford.
He adds, “But at that point, how would the Blues handle it? It’s not like they’re going to do an about-face, rip off the “C” and find a trade.”
So the Blues are left with the same basic reality: Thomas needs to get moving, and the best answer to the criticism is production. If he doesn’t turn it around soon, the team may have to keep waiting and revisit the bigger questions later. Thomas is signed through 2031, with a full no-trade clause in place until 2030.
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