Tough to take Thomas out after the game he played Saturday. Yeo even gave him some shifts against the Kane line.

I agree and I believe on a much lesser team, Thomas would be a top 6 player. But with multiple forwards coming back from injury (Fabbri and Soshnikov), and him not having having a point in the past 3 games and having only 1 assist in 6, I believe Yeo will go with the veterans over the rookie until an injury occurs or consistency fails one of our players.

I disagree, unless Armstrong hasn’t made up his mind on Thomas returning to juniors and thus is sitting him to give himself more time to decide, then Thomas needs to be playing. It’s not just that Thomas has more potential than Sundqvist, it’s that Thomas is already a better player than him

Ok. So then where would Thomas be playing with Fabbri back and Sandford being on the second line? If he plays, than it is only going to be on the 4th line (on a rotational basis) with having to split time with 2 other guys ( Barbashev and Sundqvist). He will get under 10 mins a night (he deserves more) as the roster is now crowded. It's unfortunate for him that he slots in as a 4th line player on this team.

Thomas played over 10 mins on Saturday and honestly that’s about perfect for him. Fabbri-Thomas-Barb/Sosh is a ridiculously good fourth line with grit, skill, and speed. Also, there’s definitely going to be games where Bozak/ROR/Schenn are sick or injured and Thomas will get his shot in the top 9. Armstrong even said Thomas would start the year as the 4c and the potentially center Tarasenko by Christmas. There’s always still the chance that Thomas will be sent back to Hamilton or released to Canada for the WJC, but that would mean the Blues would lose him for a full year. Do you really want Sundqvist’s 2 career goals and 44% face off percentage centering the 4th line every night? The lines should look like this:
Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Sanford- O’Reilly-Perron
Steen-Bozak-Maroon
Fabbri-Thomas-Barb/Sosh

Sure that is a good forth line! Yes, I know. He has actually played the last 2 games just over 10 mins which I agree, is good for him. But alluding to my point earlier, with some forwards coming back, I am guessing he will go under 10 mins a night unless he impresses somewhat like he did in the last game against Chicago (which he could do). Still, I wish somehow he would be up on the third line, or even alongside Tarasenko, as Armstrong suggested. Time well tell. As for Thomas going back to Hamilton, I think he has grown all he could from Major Junior and that the Blues should keep him here until the inevitable injury bug hits to slot him in at a higher line. As for Sundqvist..... well I cant really argue there. But the coaching staff seems to like him, and I thought he had a decent game against the Blackhawks.