Robert Thomas

[hockey jedi]

Not intending to rain on your day, but Army has proven he is a good evaluator of talent. He's so good he built a Stanley Cup winner and Canada regularly has him as the GM for their gold medal winning national team. He's found diamonds in the rough and underperforming players on other teams that have prospered in St. Louis. No one can predict how an investment will perform over the long term. Everyone, and I mean everyone, on this forum felt pretty good going into the season. It's fair to say we all thought we would pick up where we left off last year. Pretty much every player on the Blues is not performing how they have in the past. The one thing the Blues did in 2019 to turn things around was to bring up Jordon Nolan for a stretch. He played a physical game and it seem to energize everyone else. The Chief brought up Mac Mac and Sammy Blais. The physical element changed the Blues complexion. The Blues need to start the shuttle to Springfield giving those players a taste and letting the core know the Blues will find players that want to compete.

This is the team Army built.

While he helped build the team in 19. The only credit I give him was calling them all contractors, and putting "everyone" on the block.
As that allow them, with the goalie that army claimed needed more seasoning to come together under as a team under the [fork] army flag.

Also. Being the GM of team Canada is political.

Okay. Well politics helped him get the job. You still have to perform and he did.

[hotrivets]

Putting together a dream team for a tournament really has nothing to do with putting together an NHL team which has to succeed over a long season and then hopefully a long SC battle. You don't have to make any trades or negotiate any contracts.

[a smell of green grass]

Thomas is Keith Hernandez. When the games don't matter, he goes 5-for-5. When the playoffs arrive, he disappears.

[Harry York 37]

This is nuts. Thomas has been beat up and to another poster's point he's being called on to do ALL the heavy lifting and dirty work at center. He's not getting any help from his linemates and very little from other centers.

The Blues, all of them, have been beat down physically and all season they have been wandering in the wilderness mentally. The pressure of mistakes blowing up in their face is multiplied by the frustration of not scoring, constantly playing on the edge. A small few are handling this better than others, but they are not the real difference makers.

Thomas’ play is not the issue. He is the Franchise’s Forward at this point. He needs to lead.

His decision to side with Kyrou when Chief denanded the least semblance of unselfish and competitive play was appalling. He seems too content with collecting his paycheck and not ruffling the feathers of his friends.

We are, outside of our bottom six and Binner…. A gutless and complacent outfit.
Pride is distant memory.

This whole "side with Kyrou" thing you have going is odd. I don't recall him siding but trying to be diplomatic. You wanted him to call out Kyrou to make things worse...or to defend Chief when he's no longer there?

I get your point, Thomas was in a difficult situation
I guess he felt sorry for Kyrou? Maybe he felt like Kyrou would figure it out without any tough love from Berube?
He kept quiet while Kyrou was displaying the worst way to play winning ice hockey. I'm at work, and this is AI, but it's a decent synopsis of what went down.
I wish we could all watch the last two weeks of Kyrou's play before Berube got the axe.
Maybe Chief went too far? I doubt it, as the kid-glove treatment has Kyrou playing the same sad way two years after.

"Craig Berube's issues with Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas stemmed from his demand for them to be more complete, two-way players and their perceived lack of effort, grit, and defensive accountability, particularly given their lucrative contracts.
Key Issues
Defensive Play and Two-Way Game: Berube consistently pushed for Kyrou and Thomas to develop a stronger defensive aspect to their game, not just focus on offense. He described his vision for them as becoming "stronger two-dimensional players". Kyrou, in particular, had a very poor plus-minus rating and low numbers of hits and blocks.
Perceived Lack of Effort/Emotion: Berube publicly criticized the team's top players, including Kyrou and Thomas, for not playing with "passion, no emotion and no inspiration at all". He once commented, "I guess they don't care about the team, I don't know" when asked why his best players were not performing.
Inconsistent Performance: Despite signing significant eight-year, $65 million contracts, their on-ice production was inconsistent and often did not meet the expectations associated with their high salaries.
Communication Style Differences: Berube was known as a tough, "brutally honest" coach who demanded a lot from his players, a style that some younger players, including Kyrou and Thomas, reportedly struggled with or didn't appreciate. Kyrou's "no comment" when asked about his relationship with Berube after the firing highlighted the existing tension.
Accountability: General Manager Doug Armstrong emphasized accountability after Berube's firing, sending a message to the highly paid players that they needed to live up to their contracts and play with more compete, essentially reinforcing some of Berube's original demands.

Well, the "more compete" lesson remains to be learned. Ask anyone who paid attention to the compete in Game Seven last May.
Or anyone watching him most of this season.

[somni]

Thomas is hurt. He took 2 days off for maintenance and sat in the last half of the erd when the last game was out of reach.

As mentioned, he needs another center to compliment him. He plays in almost every situation. And teams can key on him.

And no, I don't believe he is part of any locker room issue.

Hurt? Ok, what was his issue for the first 20 games?

Thomas got hurt on Oct 25th against the wings. He only played the first 8 games...when goaltending was swiss cheese. He then came back after just 4 games I think. It's upper body, so maybe a shoulder. I don't know. But he's clearly trying to play through it, IMO.

[Harry York 37]

Thomas is hurt. He took 2 days off for maintenance and sat in the last half of the erd when the last game was out of reach.

As mentioned, he needs another center to compliment him. He plays in almost every situation. And teams can key on him.

And no, I don't believe he is part of any locker room issue.

Hurt? Ok, what was his issue for the first 20 games?

Thomas got hurt on Oct 25th against the wings. He only played the first 8 games...when goaltending was swiss cheese. He then came back after just 4 games I think. It's upper body, so maybe a shoulder. I don't know. But he's clearly trying to play through it, IMO.

I think he is hurt as well. He is better than this. Consistently better.

[Absolut]

Thomas is Keith Hernandez. When the games don't matter, he goes 5-for-5. When the playoffs arrive, he disappears.

Keith Hernandez 370 lifetime obp in postseason. Over 162 games would have 121 rbi. Weird example