Robert Thomas always sounded like a good idea for the Boston Bruins. The St. Louis Blues were surprisingly shopping their 26-year-old star center, and the Bruins were one of the teams circling his name. Boston's desire to upgrade its forward depth and Thomas' reputation as a two-way forward and characteristic Bruin made it seem like a perfect fit.
We always knew it was going to be a massive price to land a player like Thomas. Young centers don't come on the market often, especially ones at a team-friendly contract with plenty of term remaining on their deal. The only reason the Blues would ever consider it is to bring back a haul to improve their team, and the asking price is astronomical, according to Nick Kypreos.
Nick Kypreos: Re Robert Thomas: The price is astronomical, in the vicinity of something equivalent to three top-15 first-round picks. [Armstrong's] looking for cache in prospects and picks. I don’t know what team would do that - Sportsnet (2/2)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) February 3, 2026
Elliotte Friedman furthered that report on his most recent episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, where he confirmed Kypreos' comments and also made his own assumptions that there are only a couple of teams in the league that could even come close to that asking price.
Are the Bruins in contention for Robert Thomas?
The Bruins are undoubtedly one of the teams that could do it if they really thought it was necessary. Boston has four first-round picks in the subsequent two drafts, which could land them Thomas while also leaving one pick to land another prospect. After their success of landing young players at last year's trade deadline and draft, you might think that they could afford to give up three first-rounders for a guaranteed star.
Don Sweeney wouldn't completely ruin the team by making this kind of trade. Thomas makes sense in the fact that he's around the same age as the team's core, and Boston does have enough players in the pipeline to surround that core for success. The argument can be that the first rounders over the next two years might not even be ready to play by the time the core is out of their primes.
The reason Sweeney is going to be reluctant to do it is because of the mess that they made of the prospect pool in the decade of contention. When Boston tore down their team at last year's trade deadline, it had one of the worst prospect pools in the league. Through savvy deals and a little bit of luck, that pool is looking much better than it did at this time last year.
Thomas would accelerate the team into a contending window, but holding the four first-rounders should make the Bruins dangerous for longer than the next 5-6 years. Sweeney still has to hit on those draft picks, which is always a concern, especially with him, but Boston should probably go that route instead of sacrificing their future for one center. With the way last year's retool went, center isn't even as much of a need as it once was.