ST. LOUIS — Robert Thomas returned to the St. Louis Blues’ lineup Sunday, and in his first game since Jan. 10, his impact was noticeable.
The Blues won the game 3-1 over the Minnesota Wild, ending a 10-game losing streak on the road, and Thomas had the primary assist on the Blues’ first goal and sealed the win with an empty-netter.
Thomas hadn’t played in the Blues’ previous 13 games — a 4-8-1 stretch — and after leaving the team for a couple of days for personal reasons last week, he hadn’t even practiced much.
“Really good,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Thomas’ return. “It was surprising how well he handled the puck. I know he has great hands and all of that, but usually, you get back into games, everything is a half-second quicker than even practice, and he hasn’t had a lot of practice time.
“So to see the plays he made through the neutral zone and the offensive zone, and finishing plays that led to our victory, it was nice to have him back.”
Back, but for how long?
The team’s No. 1 center moved up to No. 3 on The Athletic’s trade board Monday, and there are just four days until the NHL trade deadline, Friday at 2 p.m. CT. The Athletic has also asked around the league to see what sources are saying about a potential deal, analyzed what suitors need to know about Thomas, and on Monday, Pierre LeBrun reported that one of those suitors is the Utah Mammoth.
It’s a lot to take in for Thomas, 26, who was the Blues’ first-round pick (No. 20) in 2017 and has built a young family in St. Louis. He was asked after Sunday’s win about his approach to this week.
“You just kind of take it day by day,” he responded. “We know the spot we’re in, and when you’re in this spot, stuff like that happens. So you’ve just got to keep your head down, show up for every game and … that’s about it.”
Wednesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken is the Blues’ last before Friday’s deadline. Will it be Thomas’ last with the organization he won a Stanley Cup with in 2019?
Thomas has a full no-trade clause and can veto any deal, and perhaps he already knows that he would not approve a trade to Utah. But with Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong being the Blues’ former director of amateur scouting, whose staff scouted and drafted Thomas, that destination makes sense.
What would a deal look like? Let’s look at the Blues’ reality, the Mammoth’s fit and what Utah has to offer to make a deal.
Would the Blues really trade Thomas?
The Blues would trade Thomas, but only if it makes absolute sense that the assets they’d add will fuel their retool. They are not looking to trade a player who was once seen as a potential face of the franchise and future captain just to move him.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Thomas has 97 goals and 344 points in 340 games. That’s 1.01 points per game. Only 26 NHL players have a point per game in that span (minimum 300 games). In 2024-25, Thomas led the entire league in points (40 in 26 games) after the end of the 4 Nations Face Off.
When Thomas is on his game, he’s an elite passer and staunch defender. He’s the Blues’ clear-cut No. 1 center, and he could be that on several other teams in the league. On a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, he could be a high-quality No. 2.
So why would the Blues consider trading him? Their NHL depth chart doesn’t have anyone who can replace him, and there’s no guarantee anyone from the prospect pool can either, per The Athletic’s Corey Pronman’s pipeline rankings from last August.
Here’s why they’d consider it, though: After several seasons of being stuck in the sand as a team, the Blues are gearing their roster toward an up-and-coming core that features Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorsky and Philip Broberg. Thomas is just 26 years old, but moving a player who’s entering the prime of his career should yield even more 25-and-under assets who would increase the caliber of players coming up and better suit the team’s timetable.
Why is he a good fit for the Mammoth?
As mentioned, the No. 1 reason Thomas makes sense for Utah is his familiarity with Bill Armstrong. If you’re going to make a trade of this magnitude, you’d better have intimate knowledge of the player.
The Mammoth have also been stockpiling assets and draft picks dating back to the franchise’s days in Arizona, with the hope that one day the team would be in a position to trade some of that capital for established players. That time is now. Utah went into Monday night atop the West wild-card race and can end the franchise’s five-year playoff drought this season.
Thomas also happens to fit Utah’s exact need. The Mammoth have Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton up the middle, and Schmaltz, 30, is a pending unrestricted free agent.
If the Mammoth want to win now, Thomas helps. He also fits their age bracket, about a year younger than captain Clayton Keller, 27. With four more seasons at a team-friendly $8.1 million cap hit, Thomas could be part of an offensive core the Mammoth add around in the coming years. They have $28.7 million in projected cap space for the 2026-27 season, according to PuckPedia, and other than Schmaltz, they don’t have any expensive unrestricted free agents to bring back.
As LeBrun noted, Schmaltz and the Buffalo Sabres’ Alex Tuch are the biggest names who could become UFAs this summer, so with supply limited, the Mammoth could do their shopping now.
What would the Blues want in return?
According to a league source, Doug Armstrong’s asking price for Thomas is three first-half-of-the-first-round assets, whether it’s in the form of established young players, drafted prospects or draft picks.
What could Utah offer? In August, Proman ranked the Mammoth’s prospect pipeline No. 3 in the NHL, so there are possibilities.
But what would they offer? Pronman offered his insight.
Pronman: Using deals like the Pierre-Luc Dubois and Bo Horvat trades as comparables, the Mammoth would be expected to pony up two A-level assets — strong NHL-caliber prospects or their current first-round picks — and one or two B-level assets, with at least one of those being a current roster player.
But I don’t see them trading the top four players from their prospect pipeline. Dylan Guenther and Cooley are already NHL difference-makers. Caleb Desnoyers (No. 4 pick, 2025) and defenseman Dmitri Simashev (No. 6, 2023) are unlikely to get moved.
Would the Blues be satisfied with defenseman Maveric Lamoureux (No. 29, 2022), center/winger Tij Iginla (No. 6, 2024) or winger Daniil But (No. 12, 2023)?
The Mammoth do also have six picks in the first three rounds in 2026: their own in the first; their own as well as the New York Rangers’ and Ottawa Senators’ in the second; and their own as well as the Carolina Hurricanes’ in the third.
A potential package that could make sense is prospect winger Daniil But, Hayton, Lamoureux and a 2026 second-rounder. But it would seem that the two Armstrongs would have to budge on their demands to make a combination of these assets work.
Does it make sense for both teams?
Rutherford: As much as trading Thomas for an eye-popping package could help the Blues tremendously, moving him for a less-than-spectacular package could set them back severely. So unless Utah gives up more than it likes, I can’t see the Blues making this move before Friday’s deadline. With the cap expected to rise to $104 million in 2026-27, more teams could enter the fray this summer. It’s not like Thomas will be turning 30 or his contract expiring soon. The Blues need a young center with a high ceiling, and if that’s not the offer, keeping Thomas and trading another core player is the first step.
Pronman: I think it makes sense for Utah. The Mammoth are a team on the upswing, and this could position them very well for the long-term, building up the middle with Thomas and Cooley. That is a contending-caliber top-six center duo to go around their great young core. This would be a very tough pill for the Blues to swallow. Thomas has a lot of term left, and this would be waving the white flag that they are going into a painful, long-term rebuild. The team looks in rough shape and has had its struggles this season, but I would want to wait one more year before imploding things in this manner.
