Friedman on Thomas

[Zizzle1297]

haha maybe boston says they want Thomas so we ship them Akil Thomas

[a smell of green grass]

Mike from Top Shelf Hockey suggest that Carolina could be interested in Thomas if he is truely abailable.

I would start with asking for Nikisin, Bradley Nadaeu for starters

The good news about trading with Carolina is that they are excellent at scouting talent, and they have so many great prospects that they could deal.

The bad news about trading with Carolina is that they know talent, and Doug Armstrong doesn't.

How many times did you time out writing this gem?

I write like Connor McDavid skates. I write fast, and I think faster.

[Army's Mom]

I dont want a haul for Thomas.
If I give up Thomas--I want one player equal to Thomas--or it makes no sense.
We need quality not quantity. We have draft pics galore. Need a #1 Center. #1 winger.

Any player coming back likely won’t be equal to Thomas for at least a couple of years. I think they want to add someone in the 20-22 age range. Return is gonna be a haul..no way they move him without that kind of return.

Scary to me. I can see Kyrou--but Thomas?
So hard to find a number 1 center. We dont have one.
The more I think about it--makes little sense.

Need 1 center--no need for a haul imho. Organization is crowded already with prospects. We need NHL players and good ones. We have depth.

Every team is crowded with the caliber of prospects we have. None project as top liners, and if you can get one or two top line prospects back for Thomas, its worth it.

Trading Thomas means they've determined our prospects aren't enough to open a new window around Thomas' peak, and/or Thomas isn't the guy to build around (elevate his team).

Thomas is the best scoring center we've had since Turgeon, but O'Reilly was honestly a better #1 (elevated linemates, elevated his game in clutch moments, lead).

[sneptsmoustache]

Mike from Top Shelf Hockey suggest that Carolina could be interested in Thomas if he is truely abailable.

I would start with asking for Nikisin, Bradley Nadaeu for starters

Would love to have Nikishin but him and Nadeau is just quantity and not enough quality. If we are gonna move Thomas it’s Montreal or bust …Hage is the center we need in return .

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Nikishin absolutely tattoo Oliver Moore in the face the other night

[Pierre McGuire]

Mike from Top Shelf Hockey suggest that Carolina could be interested in Thomas if he is truely abailable.

I would start with asking for Nikisin, Bradley Nadaeu for starters

Would love to have Nikishin but him and Nadeau is just quantity and not enough quality. If we are gonna move Thomas it’s Montreal or bust …Hage is the center we need in return .

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Nikishin absolutely tattoo Oliver Moore in the face the other night

lol…I have no idea what Moore was thinking but he earned some respect from his teammates,but man…never has the phrase “that’s gonna leave a mark” been more accurate

[theograce]

Mike from Top Shelf Hockey suggest that Carolina could be interested in Thomas if he is truely abailable.

I would start with asking for Nikisin, Bradley Nadaeu for starters

Would love to have Nikishin but him and Nadeau is just quantity and not enough quality. If we are gonna move Thomas it’s Montreal or bust …Hage is the center we need in return .

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Nikishin absolutely tattoo Oliver Moore in the face the other night

lol…I have no idea what Moore was thinking but he earned some respect from his teammates,but man…never has the phrase “that’s gonna leave a mark” been more accurate

It was his birthday. Epic birthday. Fight…score the winner. All over highlights. Best birthday of his life I would bet.

Guys have little kinks and things they think about that would be cool/fun/need to do.

[TheJackBurton]

I dont want a haul for Thomas.
If I give up Thomas--I want one player equal to Thomas--or it makes no sense.
We need quality not quantity. We have draft pics galore. Need a #1 Center. #1 winger.

Any player coming back likely won’t be equal to Thomas for at least a couple of years. I think they want to add someone in the 20-22 age range. Return is gonna be a haul..no way they move him without that kind of return.

Scary to me. I can see Kyrou--but Thomas?
So hard to find a number 1 center. We dont have one.
The more I think about it--makes little sense.

Need 1 center--no need for a haul imho. Organization is crowded already with prospects. We need NHL players and good ones. We have depth.

Every team is crowded with the caliber of prospects we have. None project as top liners, and if you can get one or two top line prospects back for Thomas, its worth it.

Trading Thomas means they've determined our prospects aren't enough to open a new window around Thomas' peak, and/or Thomas isn't the guy to build around (elevate his team).

Thomas is the best scoring center we've had since Turgeon, but O'Reilly was honestly a better #1 (elevated linemates, elevated his game in clutch moments, lead).

It took O'Reilly a lot of time, a lot of losses, and being in Buffalo to realize what he needed to do to hit that next level. Quite frankly the only time he won was when he was here, otherwise the teams he's been on have done a lot of losing.

I don't think Thomas is that far away, he just needs to stop being frustrated and properly learn how to control play when the puck is on his stick. Way too much time spent in the defensive zone for his line.

[seattleblue]

What about to Toronto for Knies + Danford or something like that. Spitballing

[Cahokanut]

Thomas should be the last guy we trade. Unless the return is a younger replacement, second their prospect and top picks.

What worries me is Army.
Both Our best players(drafted) came from the same we change Era.
No Prospects(youth) Army has drafted or traded for has proved to be anything more then a third liner. Outside the the change(not him) Era

So maybe let Army trade just Schenn, Binner, a fourth liber or two, maybe try to lose a bad contract without giving up any more of Steen's picks. Then Let Steen handle any big thing in the Summer.

I think all the talk of Thomas comes from what other teams are asking about. Hopefully the guy the sells locals on his greatness can sell off his great stuff as other teams needed piece for a cup run.

Hmm, just fundamentally untrue. Offer sheet is essentially a trade of draft picks and Hollywood is most certainly a top 6 guy when healthy. He proved that last year. It's way too early to decide is Snuggy is top 6 but based off of his ability to get the shot off the last 7 games, it's coming. Kyrou might not be a 1st liner but he is a 2nd liner. Buchy isn't a 1st liner, but he is a 2nd liner. Your doom and gloom is a bit too far. Neighbours 2nd liner? Definitely a middle 6 guy.

Army's problem has been his inability to put together a number 1 line. I've been saying it for 3 years now. Dallas had the model. They threw out a number 1 line 3 years ago, and had 3 lines of 4th liners. Their number 1 line scored more than the other 3 combined. They got to the playoffs. They then filled out around that line. That's where Army has made his mistake. It seems like we have filled out from the middle, and the only line that benefitted from that is the 4th line. Every year it seems like the 4th line kicks above it's coverage. But it's because it's semi 3rd liners playing down there.

So the guy who averages 65pts a season. Is not a 1st liner. But the guys averaging less then 40pts have proven to be Top Six. Except Bolduc.

Buch might of been a second liner, two years ago. But Army got him at 26-27. and that's Not a youth and not in the topic.

As for Army putting together a top line. We could, almost. Even if we could army and company prefers spreading the talent around and putting a grinder on every line.
With Monty. It's been all about defense from our offense. Turning our top line players into middle six, 'buy ins.

[dhsux]

I dont want a haul for Thomas.
If I give up Thomas--I want one player equal to Thomas--or it makes no sense.
We need quality not quantity. We have draft pics galore. Need a #1 Center. #1 winger.

Any player coming back likely won’t be equal to Thomas for at least a couple of years. I think they want to add someone in the 20-22 age range. Return is gonna be a haul..no way they move him without that kind of return.

Scary to me. I can see Kyrou--but Thomas?
So hard to find a number 1 center. We dont have one.
The more I think about it--makes little sense.

Need 1 center--no need for a haul imho. Organization is crowded already with prospects. We need NHL players and good ones. We have depth.

Every team is crowded with the caliber of prospects we have. None project as top liners, and if you can get one or two top line prospects back for Thomas, its worth it.

Trading Thomas means they've determined our prospects aren't enough to open a new window around Thomas' peak, and/or Thomas isn't the guy to build around (elevate his team).

Thomas is the best scoring center we've had since Turgeon, but O'Reilly was honestly a better #1 (elevated linemates, elevated his game in clutch moments, lead).

We had Oreilly at his best for 2 years and he still did not match up to RT's point production. I do agree in '19 he elevated the team in a way Thomas has never came close but that was rather magical season all around and Thomas is still younger right now than Ryan was when he came into the blues organization.

My opinion on a lot of this trade talk is smoke more than fire, a good part generated both by the Blues (and RT's) performance this year but whatever kind of player you want to label Thomas it remains in the good to excellent category and short of some wild weird trade of bounty....the ultimate disclaimer always talked about in these trade rumors....he isn't going anywhere and he shouldn't.

[Army's Mom]

I dont want a haul for Thomas.
If I give up Thomas--I want one player equal to Thomas--or it makes no sense.
We need quality not quantity. We have draft pics galore. Need a #1 Center. #1 winger.

Any player coming back likely won’t be equal to Thomas for at least a couple of years. I think they want to add someone in the 20-22 age range. Return is gonna be a haul..no way they move him without that kind of return.

Scary to me. I can see Kyrou--but Thomas?
So hard to find a number 1 center. We dont have one.
The more I think about it--makes little sense.

Need 1 center--no need for a haul imho. Organization is crowded already with prospects. We need NHL players and good ones. We have depth.

Every team is crowded with the caliber of prospects we have. None project as top liners, and if you can get one or two top line prospects back for Thomas, its worth it.

Trading Thomas means they've determined our prospects aren't enough to open a new window around Thomas' peak, and/or Thomas isn't the guy to build around (elevate his team).

Thomas is the best scoring center we've had since Turgeon, but O'Reilly was honestly a better #1 (elevated linemates, elevated his game in clutch moments, lead).

We had Oreilly at his best for 2 years and he still did not match up to RT's point production. I do agree in '19 he elevated the team in a way Thomas has never came close but that was rather magical season all around and Thomas is still younger right now than Ryan was when he came into the blues organization.

My opinion on a lot of this trade talk is smoke more than fire, a good part generated both by the Blues (and RT's) performance this year but whatever kind of player you want to label Thomas it remains in the good to excellent category and short of some wild weird trade of bounty....the ultimate disclaimer always talked about in these trade rumors....he isn't going anywhere and he shouldn't.

That's true - as you and TJB pointed out - it took a LOT of losing to mold ROR into the player who elevated the Blues. Maybe Thomas still has that in his future (I'll admit, I tend to forget just how young he still is). I'd be perfectly happy if they kept him - I see no reason to trade him yet, unless a truly stupid offer comes in.

That said, if someone came at Army with a Quinn Hughes type package, including a young top-6 center, a young top pair prospect defender, and a couple late 1st level picks, I'd be awful tempted.