- Robert Thomas is the 25th captain in St. Louis Blues history, taking over for Brayden Schenn
- Thomas sat at the top of the trade board in March and says he was never asked to waive his no-trade clause
- Read below for the full leadership group and when Thomas wears the C for the first time
Robert Thomas spent March as the most talked-about trade candidate in the league. He is now the captain of the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues handed Thomas the C on Wednesday, making the 27-year-old center the 25th captain in franchise history. That job had been open since March 6, when Brayden Schenn was traded to the Islanders at the deadline.
Thomas has worn an A since 2022-23, back when Ryan O’Reilly still had the C in St. Louis. The letter is not new to him. The route he took to this one is.
Buffalo pushed hardest for him at the deadline and got nowhere. Thomas went on The Sheet a few days later and was asked by Greg Wyshynski how close the whole thing actually got.
“No, no, I was never asked anything from the Blues,” Thomas said. “There was everything that I heard was coming from the insiders and different things online. I just want to be clear: I was never asked, and nor did I ever ask for a trade.”
New general manager Alexander Steen removed the last of the doubt this summer, taking Thomas off the table completely while St. Louis kept kicking tires on Alexander Nikishin.
Six months after all of that, he is the one wearing the letter.
The case for him is straightforward. Thomas has led the Blues in scoring in each of the last three seasons, putting up 64 points in 64 games last year and a career-high 86 in 2023-24.
The franchise that drafted him 20th overall in 2017 now has him running the room. He owns 460 points in 530 games, all in St. Louis, and he was a rookie chipping in six points across 21 playoff games when the Blues won the only Stanley Cup in team history in 2019.
Colton Parayko, Philip Broberg, Jake Neighbours and Dylan Holloway will rotate as alternates:
Steen and head coach Jim Montgomery will introduce the group at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Thomas wears the C for the first time on Oct. 2, when St. Louis opens the season in Dallas.
