Western team is making a second push for Robert Thomas after deadline miss
The Minnesota Wild took a huge swing at the trade deadline, and the Athletic's Michael Russo just put the details on the table.
Minnesota offered Jesper Wallstedt and Danila Yurov for Robert Thomas. That's two of the franchise's most valuable young assets in one package, going out the door for one center.
The St. Louis Blues said no.
That's a stunning offer to leak. Wallstedt is the goaltender prospect Minnesota built around.
Yurov is the Russian forward who finally crossed over from the KHL this year and posted 27 points in his rookie NHL season.
The Wild are expected to circle back this offseason. Bill Guerin clearly isn't giving up on Thomas, and the deadline rejection doesn't kill the conversation. It just delays it.
Thomas finished the regular season at 25 goals, 39 assists and 64 points across 64 games.
The 26-year-old carries an 8.125 million cap hit, and his last 10 games produced a ridiculous 9 goals, 16 points stretch.
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Doug Armstrong has the kind of leverage every GM dreams of
The Blues GM is sitting on a sweet spot. Thomas is producing at career-best rates, he's signed long-term, and rival teams are showing him the kind of package that would headline any rebuild.
Saying no at the deadline was the correct play. Saying no again this summer is the harder one.
Wallstedt's 35-game NHL season produced a .915 save percentage with 4 shutouts. That's elite-level goaltending from a 23-year-old still considered a prospect at the position.
Yurov's first NHL year was a slow burn. The 22-year-old went minus-7 in 73 games and added 2 points across 7 playoff games. The ceiling is the part that matters.
Minnesota's playoff exit happened in Round 2 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Wild went down in 5 games, and the center depth question wasn't answered.
That's why Bill Guerin keeps coming back to Thomas. The team doesn't have a true number-one center, and you don't get one of those at the trade deadline without paying.
The Blues just made their run to the postseason. Whether they extend or rebuild is the front-office question. Armstrong doesn't want to move Thomas. Every contender that's still alive in May is going to keep asking anyway.
If the Wild offer that same package this summer, the math changes. Free agency context will be different.
The draft will be over. Compensation will be reweighted by the calendar.
Russo's reporting is the kind of leak that pressures both sides. The Blues now know the Wild are serious.
Wild fans now know their front office is willing to push the asset reset button.
What St. Louis does with this information defines its offseason. Doug Armstrong has the leverage. The phone will keep ringing.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 14, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Phillip Danault | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Josh Anderson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||