Boston Bruins
The Bruins might want to half with a number of draft picks and blue-chip prospects with a purpose to pry Thomas out of St. Louis.
Talking just a little over per week earlier than the NHL commerce deadline, Bruins GM Don Sweeney preached endurance — and restraint — as his workforce tries to chart the right path ahead this season.
“We nonetheless wish to try to complement, complement our group. The gamers have finished an awesome job to be within the place they’re. We’d like so as to add to it. We’re going to be just a little extra cautious than we’ve for 10 years operating when it comes to actually being aggressive,” Sweeney said on NESN Thursday. “But when there are alternatives, we’re going to attempt to pursue them to enhance our hockey membership.”
The Bruins — nonetheless holding onto a playoff spot within the jam-packed Japanese Convention — aren’t seeking to enact a roster fire-sale for the second spring in a row.
However after years of hemorrhaging draft picks in the hunt for win-now reinforcements, this retooling Boston roster probably doesn’t have a lot of an urge for food on the rental market if it does select so as to add earlier than Friday’s deadline.
That will not preclude Sweeney and his workers from bolstering this lineup — particularly if it’s a high-value asset that would each assist the present membership punch its ticket to the postseason, and thrive as a franchise fixture for the foreseeable future.
That might not be “cautious” relating to Boston parting with loads of belongings in a blockbuster deal. However it is also a prudent transfer for a Bruins workforce that has each an interesting treasure trove of picks/prospects — and a need to additional increase a depth chart that’s properly forward of schedule.
As such, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Bruins have been linked to one of many high commerce chips in the marketplace in St. Louis Blues middle Robert Thomas.
According to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, Thomas is a “title that the Bruins actually like” — including that Boston has “the ammunition to at the very least keep within the combine till the end line” for the anticipated bidding struggle for his companies.
Thomas, 26, has the potential to be a top-six star in Boston for years to return. However after restocking their cabinet of draft picks and prospects final spring, the Bruins would inevitably have to empty their pool of future belongings as soon as once more to pry Thomas out of St. Louis.
Right here’s a take a look at the professionals and cons for a possible blockbuster deal for the Bruins:
Professional: He’d match a transparent want for the Bruins in 2026 and past
That is the straightforward a part of the equation.
Bringing in a professional top-line middle like Thomas — simply coming into the prime of his profession — could be a significant coup for an Unique Six franchise that was seemingly destined for an arduous rebuild at this level final season.
Thomas might not be on the identical stage because the true franchise pivots within the NHL like McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Eichel, Matthews, and others.
However the Ontario product remains to be one of many extra underrated and efficient facilities within the sport – surpassing 80 factors over every of the final two seasons.
A gifted playmaker who has seen his shot charges spike lately, it looks like a lock that Thomas would repeatedly function at 80-plus factors a season if stapled on a high line subsequent to David Pastrnak.
Because the begin of the 2023-24 season, there have been 794 NHLers who’ve logged at the very least 500 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. Thomas ranks seventh in that deep pool of expertise in assists per 60 minutes at 1.73, per Natural Stat Trick.
The one gamers forward of him? Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Ivan Demidov, Nathan MacKinnon, Pastrnak, and Mitch Marner.
Thomas’ worth is additional elevated by his contract, with the 26-year-old middle signed by way of the top of the 2030-31 season at an annual cap hit of $8.125 million — a payout that ought to proceed to age properly because the NHL’s salary-cap ceiling continues to soar.
The price could be steep, however a participant like Thomas at the very least falls consistent with what the Bruins have tried to prioritize over the previous couple of years — like when Boston acquired a 28-year-old Hampus Lindholm in March 2022 and instantly signed him to an eight-year extension.
The addition of Thomas — coupled with the presence of gifted pivots like Fraser Minten, James Hagens, and Dean Letourneau each on the roster and in Boston’s prospect pipeline — may give a middle grouping poised to contend each now and within the years forward.
Talking of these blue-chip prospects….
Con: The Bruins must cough up a number of key belongings to tug off this deal
The Bruins’ future appears shiny – past the contributions from under-30 stars like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, and Morgan Geekie.
They’ve 4 first-round picks within the subsequent two drafts, with Toronto’s 2026 first-round choose (top-five protected) at the moment slated to present Boston the No. 8 pick in June. They’ve obtained promising children at the moment on the NHL roster, together with Fraser Minten and Mason Lohrei.
James Hagens (40 factors in 30 video games at Boston School) is wanting like a future top-six stalwart and may very well be donning a black-and-gold sweater as quickly as late March.
Fellow Eagles pivot Dean Letourneau has blended his tantalizing potential and body (6-foot-7) with confirmed manufacturing at Chestnut Hill (19 targets, 34 factors in 32 video games). Will Zellers — a pickup from final March’s commerce centered round Charlie Coyle — is as much as 17 targets and 27 factors as a freshman at North Dakota.
However with a purpose to purchase a top-line middle in his prime like Thomas, the Bruins might need to half with quite a lot of of these priceless future belongings.
Two of these 4 first-round picks might need to be relinquished to be a focus for Blues GM Doug Armstrong. A blue-chip prospect like Letourneau will probably be a attainable concession made for a confirmed pivot like Thomas. An NHLer like Lohrei is also of some worth, whereas more cash would must be moved off Boston’s roster to make the cash work.
And even which may nonetheless have Armstrong holding out for extra.
There’s so much to love about what Thomas would offer Boston over the subsequent five-plus years as a top-six stalwart — particularly alongside different gamers of their prime like Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Swayman.
However it could considerably curtail among the youth motion that Boston has — for the primary time in a very long time — efficiently cultivated during the last yr or so.
Professional: Boston has sufficient belongings so as to add a giant fish — and never fully intestine their system
A suggestion just like the one talked about above (two firsts, Letourneau, Lohrei) may trigger some Bruins followers to recoil in horror.
It’s a large asking value, no query. However as steep as it’s, the Bruins’ roster teardown final spring has given Boston an abundance of riches to work with.
Even when Boston and St. Louis had been to comply with a commerce package deal like that, the Bruins nonetheless have two extra first-round picks the subsequent two years (together with a possible top-10 choose if Toronto’s ‘26 choose is off limits), one other elite prospect in Hagens, a possible 20-goal winger in Zellers, and an already confirmed middle-six middle in Minten.
Oh, and a star middle signed long-term in Thomas.
As long as Hagens and/or that Toronto first-round choose aren’t the true deal-breakers from Armstrong and the Blues, the Bruins have the means to at the very least play ball relating to becoming a member of the bidding struggle for high belongings like Thomas — with out essentially draining the whole pool of future expertise.
Con: The Blues don’t *have* to commerce Thomas earlier than Friday
After all, Armstrong and the Blues aren’t essentially below any strain to commerce Thomas earlier than Friday.
The Blues and former Bruins bench boss Jim Montgomery are gazing a long-term rebuild after bottoming out with a 22-29-9 document. It’s to be anticipated that St. Louis will deal veteran gamers like Justin Faulk and Brayden Schenn to recoup belongings.
However a 26-year-old middle in Thomas below a long-term deal doesn’t must be moved proper now by St. Louis, who may choose to carry onto its star participant and revisit talks at 2026 NHL Draft or subsequent season.
The Blues is likely to be intrigued by a Bruins’ proposed supply for Thomas. However they may additionally maintain out to see if a workforce like Boston has the abdomen to half with a prospect like Hagens or a younger NHLer like Minten and actually overpay.
If a workforce like Boston or Utah (with a former top-10 choose in Caleb Desnoyers) needs to place all of their chips on the desk, then St. Louis may comply with a deal. However they’re not essentially in a rush — not with them having the entire leverage relating to such a sought-after asset.
It takes two to tango in any of those trades. The Bruins have loads of causes to pursue a Thomas commerce. However it’s removed from a provided that Armstrong and the Blues are prepared and prepared to make this a clean negotiation for such a gifted participant.
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