The St. Louis Blues have re-signed restricted free agent forward Robert Thomas to a 2-year contract worth $5.6 million, averaging $2.8 million per season. This contract carries him through the 2022-23 season.
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Robert Thomas Re-Signs With the Blues
Over his three-year NHL career, he has 22 goals, 65 assists and 87 points in 169 games. He averaged 13:46 minutes of ice time per game. He was originally drafted 20thoverall by the Blues in the 2017 NHL Draft.
In 33 career playoff games, he has two goals and 10 assists for 12 points. He averaged 14:02 minutes of ice time, up slightly from his average ice time in the regular season. Thomas added 14 minutes in penalties. He helped lead the Blues to their first Stanley Cup during his rookie season.
Offensively, Thomas had his best season the year after the Blues won the Cup. He set career regular-season highs in goals with 10, assists with 32, points with 42 and average ice time with 14:34.
Last season, he only had three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 33 games. He added 10 minutes in penalties. In an already shortened season, he spent time on the injured reserve with a broken thumb and missed a few more games with a shoulder injury.
The Blues only played in four playoff games last season. Thomas played in all of them and registered three assists, adding two minutes in penalties. He averaged 15:09 minutes of ice time, up from both his career average during the regular season and the playoffs.
What This Means for the Future
Thomas will most likely get third-line minutes with the Blues to start with the chance to move up as to test his chemistry with new additions Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich. Last season, Thomas moved around the lineup a lot because of the abundance of injuries on the team. Sometimes he played on the third line with Tyler Bozak and Mike Hoffman, sometimes Ivan Barbashev or Jordan Kyrou were thrown into the mix on the third line and sometimes he got promoted to the second line.
When Thomas is in his groove and fully healthy, he makes a difference every time he steps foot onto the ice. He may not always score the flashiest goals, but he’s the player that sets up those goals. They couldn’t happen without his quick-thinking and fast playmaking. A healthy Thomas is a huge asset to the Blues who have already lost Jaden Schwartz this offseason and might lose Vladimir Tarasenko too.
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