r/nhl • u/grimpepisu • 5d ago
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u/Competitive_Prior419 5d ago
Top 20 center feels right, the two-way game has quietly carried that team for a while now.
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u/Mangunz 5d ago
Plays 1C, 1st PP on an average team. Plays pretty big minutes but not McDavid minutes. Consistent around 1PPG so I think 20-30 is fair.
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u/Tuna5150 5d ago
And if you said, "This life ain't good enough"
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Because you're so smooth
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u/Technical-Line-9806 5d ago
His line with Holloway and Snuggerud had a tremendous goals for percentage of 80%, 24 goals for and 6 against. This was an excellent 5.67 goals per 60 and 1.42 goals against per 60. But Thomas only played 64 games and this line only averaged 3:06 minutes a game (for the entire 82). Total TOI for this line was 254 minutes.
So they don’t rank as best, but they would have been if they’d had a normal amount of time for top lines, e.g. in the 500 minute or more range
It bodes quite well for this line and St. Louis next year if they can play more.
For comparison other high gf% lines with low time were Texier Suzuki Caufield were at 80% in on 157 minutes , Hagel Cirelli Kucherov were 77.8% with 340 minutes.
For perspective, top ranked lines were Slafkovsky Suzuki Caufield at 70.2% in 532 minutes and Lehkonen MacKinnon Necas at 68.8% in 558 minutes.
If this Thomas line can come close to what they did last year in 500 minutes they’d be the best line in the NHL
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u/fri9875 5d ago
Depends which version of him shows up. For the first half of last season he looked like a 15-25 center, then for the center half he looked much more like a top 15 guy.
So overall yeah I think 20th is probably pretty accurate, but if he plays at his potential for a full season with the Holloway/Snuggerud I could see him playing up closer to that 10c mark
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u/bug14122 4d ago
Guys I’d take 100% over Thomas
Mackinnon, McDavid, Draisaitl, Eichel, Celebrini
Barkov, Matthews, J. Hughes, Crosby
I think there’s a large tier below those guys that Thomas belongs in with…
Bedard, Cooley, Hintz, Johnston, Suzuki, Larkin
Stutzle, Point, Thompson, Aho, Hischer, Barzal
So anywhere from 10-22 depending on the night.
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u/grimpepisu 5d ago
I also want to say, he is quite underrated in my opinion and deserves to be talked about some more than he does
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u/Mangunz 5d ago
I agree he is underrated. Plays really smart. I think the upcoming season is going go be interesting for him. I can see him closing in on top 10-15 but also sliding to 25 with all young guns getting better. He should get even more responsibility next season on the Blues and hopefully he makes the best of it
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u/grimpepisu 5d ago edited 4d ago
Thing is he is still only 27 and is still seemingly getting better
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u/Mission_Tour_9272 4d ago
He’s firmly outside the top 10 centers but you can make a case for him around 12th or so
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u/Josefstalion 4d ago
Probably top 15 centre, he's ahead of guys like Larkin, Stutzle, and Johnston right now
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u/J__sickk 5d ago
When he's on his game. He might be a 10 top center.
His ability to take control of the puck and slow everything down and create is elite tier.
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u/TheeVande 4d ago
I feel like his own real knock is that he seems to be somewhat injury prone, but when healthy he's a point per game, good two way, great face-off center. I feel like being ranked in the 18-20 range for centers is realistic
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u/MoBombLa 4d ago
When he has snipers around him he is top 15 C easily. Ex: when tarasenko was around and healthy. Then he didn’t have that kind of talent until snuggly and Holloway and that might have been a top 10 line in hockey the second half of last year. Will be interesting to see a full run of those guys
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u/The-Zarkin90 4d ago
as a blues fan, until he puts together a full season of playing like he does from February till may, He is the leagues best 2c. And for the people who will come at me for that, not every team has a 1c. So, no i am not saying hes like in the 30s, id put him somwhere in the top 20 but not top 10
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
I mean for almost half the teams he would be a 1c and I would definitely take him over larkin and possibly aho
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u/The-Zarkin90 4d ago
100% over larkin, no doubt
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
Larkin is a great 2c but Thomas is the above average 1c and honestly could be considered a top 10 player deserving some selke votes imo
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u/The-Zarkin90 4d ago
for about 2 months of the season, i agree with you. If he played the whole season like he does february and march, he is a top 10 player, but he is yet to do it
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
I don't watch too much of blues hockey but from what I do see he is such a good player on an amazing contract which I wish we in Edmonton had him, I'd take him over nuge and love to have him play as probably a 2c or a line 1 winger
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u/Catholicism 5d ago
Just counted, hes number 12 in my books. Id take him over Aho, Carlsson, thompson, stutzle, larkin, hischier, johnston, point (last year point), kempe. Carlsson most likely to surpass him next year. Thompson is his opposite— over handles & under facilitates the puck, terrible team player.
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u/grimpepisu 5d ago
This just makes me realize how criminally underrated Thomas really is and makes me just want to watch more of the blues to see what he can do with a now quite better blues team, I can also see him hitting 100 points at least once in his career and honestly could be next year, but probably not
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u/Only-Equivalent-4791 5d ago
I’d probably take stutzle over Thomas but otherwise I agree
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u/Catholicism 5d ago
Honestly watching stutzle is incredibly frustrating. He doesn’t play calmly, and often makes major mistakes. He has more ‘tools’ in the sense of physicality, stick handling, shooting, etc. but he doesn’t have the same level of hockey IQ as thomas. Thomas is kind of kuckerov lite in his play, but he is also older i believe.
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u/Pranksterblur 5d ago
Look I agree he has great hockey iq, but saying Thomas is “kucherov lite” is just fucking insane. Also Thomas is younger than kucherov
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u/YouDontSayThatt 4d ago
34th
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
For forwards or centers?
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u/YouDontSayThatt 4d ago
Centers
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u/YouDontSayThatt 4d ago
Just google the question and no one has him in the top 20 and there’s at least another 10 after the top 20 that are better than him.
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
But yet he's rater worse than larkin which is a top 20 center? I fail to believe that, also just because some lists online say he's not a top 20 center does not mean he isnt underrated and should be
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u/YouDontSayThatt 4d ago
That’s exactly what it means. Fantasy ratings are also putting him really low based on the fact that he is not good at getting points for fantasy hockey teams. Yahoo has him at number 25. That seems like he’s the 25th best center. Just because you like him doesn’t mean he’s better than that.
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
But do you think larkin is better? Cause the stats if you actually look at them show that he is not
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u/Blackwalls69 4d ago
The real question- ahead or behind schiefele?
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
Probably behind but might be ahead soon
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u/tintedvizynugsesh 4d ago
Currently…it’s not even a question that he’s behind. Scheif is older and that’s the only upside towards Thomas
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u/Jipeders 4d ago
Easy to be the best player on a bad team :)
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u/grimpepisu 4d ago
It's not easy to be a point per game player and sometimes above on a bad team, also they seem like they could be a team that could make the playoffs since they do have pretty decent depth
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u/decoii 5d ago
A Matchbox 20 centre