Blues to activate Robert Thomas from injured reserve

The blues are activated Robert Thomas from injured reserve, reports Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. The star center will return to the lineup against the Wild on Tuesday.

Thomas’ homecoming comes weeks ahead of schedule. The 25-year-old broke his ankle in a game against the Jets on Oct. 22 and was sidelined for six weeks, which would have kept him out until early December. Instead, he is back in the lineup less than a month after sustaining the injury.

Before the break, Thomas had one goal and five assists for six points in seven games. Now in his seventh year in the league, the 2017 first-round pick dealt with some bad puck luck, shooting a career-worst 8.7%. That should turn around over the next few weeks as he looks to be recording over a point per game. game for the second season in a row.

Away from goals and assists, Thomas had an excellent start to the season. He averaged 20:33 per game, won 62.6% of his draws and had career best possession numbers at 58.1 CF% and 64.9 xGF% at even strength.

The Blues don’t have an open roster spot yet, but they will in about an hour Kasperi Kapanen is claimed by another team or clears waivers. Thomas’ official activation will thus take place after 1 p.m. CT.

“He has put a lot of work into getting to this point,” Bannister said of Thomas’ speedy recovery (via Rutherford). “He doesn’t seem to have missed a beat; he is in good shape. He went away for 1-2 weeks to work in Toronto with his doctors and I think that really sped up the process.”

St. Louis is now fully healthy up front and hopefully that will stave off a rash of injuries on defense. Beyond Torey Krug is excluded for the year, Philip Broberg and Nick Leddy has hit injured reserve since the start of the season. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is day-to-day with a lower-body injury but has not been ruled out tonight against Minnesota.

The lack of available puck-moving defensemen will prompt the Blues to experiment with a five-forward first power-play unit tonight, one that Thomas will quarterback, per Lou Korac of NHL.com. Thomas has just one power-play point this season, but 27 of his 86 points last season came on the man advantage.

At even strength, Thomas will return to his standard first-line center role. After spending most of the early go along Jordan Kyrou to the right and Brandon Saad to his left, Pavel Buchnevich will now slide up to first-line duties, while Saad skates on the second line with Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighborsaccording to Korac.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.