With the trade deadline approaching at 3pm ET today, it seems that Kent Hughes has narrowed his focus on possibly acquiring at top six centre or winger. Doing so would vault the Habs to contender status, but I'm sure that Hughes will not make a rash move. While I think that Hughes will avoid Kadri, Trocheck and Elias Pettersson , there is one player I would be comfortable trading young assets for. That player is Robert Thomas.
Robert Thomas C, Right hand shot
At 27 years of age, Thomas would fit seamlessly into the already young core of the Habs. He has a manageable cap hit of 8.125 until 2031 and is easily living up to that contract by being close to a point a game player in the last few seasons.. He can essentially do it all ,as he is strong the face off dot at 52% this year, has tremendous hockey IQ and plays a complete 200 foot game. His attitude and style of play is perfect for the structure established by St-Louis and the coaching staff. The asking price would be quite high, but I'd be willing to part with a first round pick, Hage/Reinbacher and a good roster player for 5 more years of prime Robert Thomas.
Other than that, I don't see another player on the market that would be a better fit than Thomas. I think Hughes will stay quiet today, but if he does make a deal, I hope it's for Thomas in order to keep pace with the other teams loading up for a big run.