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Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues was present with Edmonton Oilers stars during the unexpected offer sheet surprise.
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    Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues was present with Edmonton Oilers stars during the unexpected offer sheet surprise.

    HENDERSON, NV — Robert Thomas had a front-row seat for the panic wrought by his general manager on the Edmonton Oilers. And he couldn’t be happier.

    The St. Louis Blues star was having a post-workout lunch at Gary Roberts’ training camp with four core Oilers — Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Darnell Nurse — on Aug. 13 when all the NHLers’ phones blew up with news of the surprise moves.

    Blues GM Doug Armstrong had hit the Oilers with a double offer sheet of restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, setting in motion a successful plot to swipe two of the Stanley Cup finalists’ more promising youngsters.

    “A couple of them were just looking at me like, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ I was so happy. You couldn’t take the smile off my face for 20 minutes,” Thomas, still grinning, recounted for a taping of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast at the Player Media Tour.

    “Hey, you gotta go after the best in West.”

    32 Thoughts: The Podcast


    32 Thoughts: The Podcast with Kyle Bukauskas and NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman takes a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews around the hockey world.

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    Thomas is a native of Aurora, Ont., not far from where Roberts runs his gruelling annual summer camps and where McDavid & Co. have been regulars.

    Thomas said he was aware that Armstrong had an interest in Broberg, a promising young defenceman, and Holloway, who appeared in 25 playoff games during the Oilers’ run to the final.

    But even Thomas was caught off-guard… in a good way.

    “I was having a great time,” Thomas said.

    “They weren’t too happy. I teased them for a couple weeks.”

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    The NHL world was left in shock when news broke that Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues was present with Edmonton Oilers stars during the unexpected offer sheet surprise. The offer sheet, which was extended to Thomas by the Oilers, caught many off guard as it is a rare occurrence in the NHL.

    Thomas, who is a young and talented forward for the Blues, has shown promise in his short career and has become an important part of the team’s lineup. The 22-year-old center was selected 20th overall by the Blues in the 2017 NHL Draft and has since developed into a key player for the team.

    The offer sheet from the Oilers came as a surprise to many, as it is not often that teams extend offer sheets to restricted free agents. Offer sheets are a way for teams to try and acquire a player from another team by offering them a contract that their current team may not be able to match. In this case, the Oilers saw an opportunity to add a talented young player to their roster and made their move.

    The presence of Edmonton Oilers stars during the offer sheet surprise only added to the intrigue of the situation. It is not often that players from one team are present when another team extends an offer sheet to a player, but in this case, it seems that the Oilers wanted to make a statement by having some of their top players there.

    While it remains to be seen how the situation will play out, one thing is for certain – Robert Thomas is a talented player who has a bright future ahead of him in the NHL. Whether he ends up staying with the Blues or joining the Oilers, there is no doubt that he will continue to make an impact on the ice for years to come.