ST. LOUIS — In one sense, with the St. Louis Blues missing the playoffs for the second straight season, Robert Thomas has had a lot of time on his hands.
In another sense, with Thomas becoming a first-time father this summer, he’s had no time on those hands.
Thomas recently welcomed his daughter, Taytum, into the world, and after the first 60-assist year of his career, he’s now assisting with bottles and diapers.
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With Blues training camp just around the corner, Thomas agreed to spend some of his precious time answering questions from The Athletic’s subscribers, ranging from fatherhood to line chemistry.
Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Congratulations on welcoming your daughter! How has becoming a father changed your mindset? — Kevin K.
It’s been the coolest and best experience of my life. She’s been amazing and, yeah, definitely my free time has gone down a lot more. But at the same time, it’s motivated me, and I can’t wait for her to come watch her first game.
Describe your chemistry with Pavel Buchnevich. And how excited are you that you’ll be spending the next seven years playing alongside him? — Mason V.
I couldn’t be happier! I love playing with him. He’s such a smart hockey mind, and I think we complement each other really well. He’s a huge part of our team, but more importantly, he’s a great person off the ice. He’s always — no, not always, haha! — but when he’s happy, he’s got a huge smile on his face and he’s joking around. Yeah, he’s a real treat to play with and a pretty special guy, so I’m very happy that we have him for a long time.
He's someone that's really been a good mentor to me. I talk to him about everything, still do to this day.”
@rthomas_27 has all the love for @stlouisblues captain and friend, Brayden Schenn 🥹 pic.twitter.com/TZiKJlrk6K— NHLPA (@NHLPA) August 12, 2024
Which former Blues teammate do you miss the most and why? — Troy C.
Jeez, that’s tough! I’m going to go with Tyler Bozak. I watched him growing up with the Toronto Maple Leafs, so that was pretty cool playing with him. But he’s just a guy that always brightened up the room. He’s a funny, funny guy, and he was always a “master deflector.” When anything was coming at him, he would always pick on someone else so the attention got off him.
In the offseason, do you skate with any Blues players? Which NHL players do you skate with regularly? — Todd H.
I’m not skating with anyone from the Blues. I’m skating with the Tanev brothers (Chris and Brandon), (Leon) Draisaitl, (Connor) McDavid, Mitchell Stephens and — who else is out there? — oh, Darnell Nurse.
With McDavid and Draisaitl, I think it’s important to watch and learn from the best. I’m very fortunate to see their work ethic every day and to pick their brains about different things, whether it’s the power play or whatever. It’s really benefited me in the past, and it’s only going to help me as I continue to grow as a player.
If you could have any two wingers on your line who are not currently on the Blues, who would they be and why? — Michael B.
Hmm, I would probably say … this is a good one! I’m going to go with Zach Hyman and … actually, I’m going to change that. I’m going to go with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk. I think with those two guys, it would be a special time, and I think we’d have a lot of success.
How was your Ireland trip with the Tkachuks? — Jaykobius B.
Super fun. I got to bring my dad, so it was a little father-son trip. It was my first time in Ireland, and we all love golf. … In the U.S. and Canada, if you have a beautiful beach on the coast, people build mansions on them. But over there they build golf courses, and it’s pretty neat.
Robert Thomas took a vacation to Ireland this summer with the Tkachuk family. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Tkachuk)
Which team would you consider to be the Blues’ biggest rival? — Kyle F.
I will give you two: the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. Those games are always intense, and we’ve had some good playoff series in the past. And I think we all just hate each other, so there’s that.
Who are the biggest “yappers” in the league? — Jeff T.
Oh, jeez! I don’t really get involved too much in the chirping unless it’s a friend. Brady (Tkachuk) is always all over me. I know I’m biased, but I would say Matthew (Tkachuk) is really good. I’ll go with him.
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Other than winning the Stanley Cup, what has been your greatest moment as a member of the Blues? — Christopher G.
I would say playing in the All-Star Game last year. Having it in your hometown in Toronto and having so much family there, it was super cool. I had a blast, and my family had a ton of fun, which is most important. They got to meet a bunch of players and see all the behind-the-scenes (stuff), and they loved it. I shook Justin Bieber’s hand, and it’s always cool seeing a guy like that. You’re a little starstruck. But most importantly, my family loves hockey, and they thought it was super cool.
How difficult has it been for you and the core members of the Cup team to miss the playoffs for two straight seasons? Do you think we have enough talent on this roster to make the playoffs this year? — Glen S.
It’s been really frustrating. Last year, I thought we made some good strides and our record was pretty good. But the Nashville Predators went on a (16-0-2) run to kind of take us out of it. It’s pretty hard to compete with that. So yeah, it’s been pretty frustrating, but you can see that it’s trending upward and the continued growth of our team. We have some really exciting young players coming up, and I’m excited to see what they can do. So I’m really confident in our future and ready to move on from the past two years.
What are your thoughts on the offer-sheet additions of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway? — Jon M.
That’s really exciting. We watched them during the playoffs, and they’re really good players. I think they’re going to make a big impact — not only next year but for years to come. When you see players drafted by your team, it’s like, “OK, it’s going to take a couple of years.” But these are guys that have had time to develop, were part of a winning team and were one game away from winning the Stanley Cup last year. That experience for them will really help our team.
New team, new numbers. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/6VWDSFwDAJ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) August 22, 2024
When did you realize that you have a great shot and need to shoot more? — G.R.
I think I’ve always known that I had a great shot. It’s more about the decision-making, looking to shoot more. I had a different mindset last year, and that led to some more success.
In a shootout, what is your process as to the type of move you’re going to do? — Anonymous
With the shootout, I usually take a similar route each time, trying to take the goalie’s angle off. For me, I’m looking at how far he’s out. If he’s well above his crease, then you’ve got to make a move on him and try to get around him. If he’s in his crease, then you’re looking to take a quick shot. That’s how I go about making a decision.
Some faceoffs are more important than others. Do you have a preplanned strategy or technique that you save for big faceoffs, or do you just go off your instinct? Also, who’s the best faceoff man in the league? — Scott S.
Wow, that’s interesting. I would say yes and no. I think faceoffs are a game within a game, and the more you take, you get to know who you’re playing against and you feed off each other throughout the game. It’s a little bit of a chess match. So I think you do save your best stuff for the last couple of minutes, but usually you go with whatever has been working the best throughout the game.
As far as the best faceoff guy in the league, that’s hard. It changes on a given night. Sometimes you’ll go against Jordan Staal and go 1-9, and some nights you have his number and you’ll go 9-1. I think he’s really good. I’d say (Anze) Kopitar is really good. (Aleksander) Barkov is awesome. But it all depends on the night.
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Which analytics do you look at as a player? — Cade D.
I’m mostly interested in puck-possession numbers. I feel that when I have a certain amount of puck possession in a game, it usually leads to having a good game in my eyes. So controlling the puck is the one thing that I look for the most.
How did playing with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League impact your development? — Chris P.
That was huge. I feel like I really turned into the player that I am today because of London. I went from a good player to an NHL player there. I’ve always been a 200-foot player, and I feel like that part of my game was developed in London, as well as another level of playmaking and scoring. I think those areas allowed me to succeed in the NHL and get off to a running start.
Are you any relation to the pop singer Rob Thomas? — Joey R.
No relation, but my aunt was a huge Matchbox Twenty fan. She met Rob Thomas before and gave him a signed jersey of mine. Then when I met him during the Cup year, he still had the jersey in his trunk and he showed it to me. That was pretty cool!
Rob Thomas squared. #stlblues @StifelTheatre pic.twitter.com/qZC6xEMFwA
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 2, 2019
Please tell me the Blues players are sick of hearing “Country Roads.” — Jeff T.
Yes and no. I think when we’re winning a close game or it’s against a rival, it’s always nice to hear. But I can see some people getting sick of it, yeah!
PC, PlayStation or Xbox? — Zach M.
I’d say Xbox/PC — both of them. I always grew up playing Xbox with my brother, and it was always one of those things where you’re an Xbox guy or a PlayStation guy and you’re loyal to them. I feel like I was loyal to Xbox for absolutely no reason. But I think everything is going to PC now, so that’s why I kind of transitioned to the computer.But for the reasons we talked about earlier, with the baby here now, I haven’t touched any of them in the last five months, ha!
(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. He has covered the team since the 2005-06 season, including a dozen years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is the author of "Bernie Federko: My Blues Note" and "100 Things Blues Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." In addition, he is the Blues Insider for 101 ESPN in St. Louis. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jprutherford
