St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas
One of the most talked about players at the trade deadline was the St. Louis Blues’ star first-line center Robert Thomas. The 26-year-old was notably one of the big-name players that GM Doug Armstrong was willing to trade in his attempted big sell-off. 

But Thomas has five years left on his eight-year deal, and owns a full no-trade clause. He appeared on Monday on The Sheet podcast with insiders Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski to tell us all just exactly how close he came to being dealt (hint: not that close).

I was never asked anything from the Blues. Everything that I heard was coming from insiders and different things online. I just want to be clear, I was never asked (to waive his no-trade clause), nor did I ever ask for a trade.

There’s no doubt that several teams were interested—very interested. Insider David Pagnotta revealed that the Utah Mammoth, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and Seattle Kraken all tried to get in on the Thomas Sweepstakes. And we heard earlier that the Buffalo Sabres were close. Their fans even chanted Thomas’s name at a game last week. But Armstrong had simply set the price so high that it never got close enough to a deal to have to bring anything to the young star. 

Thomas added that Armstrong had taken aside a group of players in advance of the deadline to let them know that he’d be listening, so they weren’t taken by surprise. 

“He wasn’t sure where it was going to lead, but I think just giving us the heads up just kind of prepared us a little bit. Obviously, he didn’t have to do it, so it was really nice of him.”

For now, Thomas remains a St. Louis Blue, and he’s happy about it. We’ll have to see how things unfold in the summer. His full no-trade holds firm until the final season of his deal, in 2030, when it reverts to a 15-team no-trade list. 

Photo: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images