There’s no secret that Robert Thomas being injured is awful for the St. Louis Blues, but just how awful is it? Well, the team looks lost without him in a number of ways.
In the loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 22, Thomas broke his ankle while blocking a shot. He is set to be re-evaluated in six weeks from the time of the injury. Let’s get into why the team will continue to struggle without him.
Thomas Is Irreplaceable No. 1 Center
While he hasn’t been super elite this season, he’s the undisputed number-one center on this team. He was great last season and I trusted he would have rounded into form by early December if not sooner without the injury occurring. While not looking quite as elite this season through seven games, he still put up six points overall. He’s been reliable for long enough to trust that he’d figure it out. Even though he struggled early, the lack of his presence in the lineup right now is very noticeable.
He reached an elite level last season with 86 points in 82 games. While he wasn’t on pace for that at the start of the season, there’s no denying his ability as a top-line center. He’s effective in all three zones and really came around as a goal-scorer last season. He’s always been an elite passer and his shot was underrated going into last season before he started using it more. I will note this – Thomas won 62.6 percent of his faceoffs (97 of 155) through seven games this season.
The bottom line is that the Blues can’t replace him right now. They don’t have the players to do so. This was well known going into the season and the fact that he got injured in this fashion is brutal for the club.
Blues Lack Quality Center Depth
As mentioned above, the Blues don’t have quality center depth. Outside of Thomas, they aren’t working with much. Centers such as Brayden Schenn, Radek Faksa, and Oskar Sundqvist aren’t quality enough to be consistent top-liners down the middle. Schenn has been declining, Faksa is a quality bottom-six center, and Sundqvist is a depth player coming off of a major injury. Even a good player like Pavel Buchnevich isn’t an elite center.
Related: Blues Prospect Report: Snuggerud, Korotky, Dvorsky & More
As of now, the top two centers in the lineup are Buchnevich and Dylan Holloway. Both of those players are good, but it’s not what teams should look for down the middle at the top. The idea of calling up Dalibor Dvorsky or Zach Dean to play center is intriguing, but I don’t think it would help in the short term. I just don’t see either of those players being ready for the big time yet. The team didn’t plan for a major injury like this and it shows.
Blues Will Continue to Struggle
The Blues are now 5-6-0 overall and have dropped three straight games. They’ve been outclassed in two of those three games while losing their most recent game just 2-1 against the Philadelphia Flyers. They don’t defend or score well enough as the problems of last season look similar. Without a number-one center, the team is vulnerable to getting beat by anybody in the league due to their lack of strength down the middle.
The upcoming schedule won’t do them any favors either. This could get out of control fast for head coach Drew Bannister, who has not had an answer yet. It’ll be interesting to see how the organization approaches this situation if the losses keep coming.
