Forward had lowest output in goals, points since 2020-21, remains committed to St. Louis; team also remains committed -- for now
ST. LOUIS -- It's been mentioned in this space that the St. Louis Blues would not be wise to move on from Robert Thomas, if that was a subject that had bearings to it anyway.
But a player with a similar contract, in fact the exact same one (eight years, $65 million that equates to $8.125 million in average annual value and a full no-trade clause) that didn't have the same type of season as Thomas, the question once again has risen to the forefront: do the Blues and Jordan Kyrou need to go their separate ways? Would the team and player benefit from a fresh start?
If you look at the numbers (46 points; 18 goals, 28 assists) in 72 games, the goals, assists and points were his lowest in any full season since his first in 2020-21 when he played in 55 games; the average ice time (15:44) also reflected it and was his lowest since that same season. A lot of the advanced stats also told a story that didn't resonate all that positively.
They're not the kinds of numbers the 27-year-old has put up, especially compared to the past three seasons when he averaged just under 35 goals and 70 points.
"Obviously offensively, I didn’t put up the numbers that I like," Kyrou said Saturday at the end of season exit meetings at Enterprise Center. "I’m just going to go and reflect, try and reset this summer and try to come back and have a great year next year."
Kyrou has played up and down the lineup, from top-line duties to third-line duties. He's played with multiple linemates and centers trying to get him going, and for a player that was grown accustomed to running hot and cold at points in the season, that hot streak never really materialized; he had an eight-game point streak early in the season from Oct. 13-28 but never had more than a point in any game, and his best stretch was 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 13 games from Jan. 10-Feb. 26.
"It’s tough. As a group, when you get off to a tough start, it’s kind of hard to just bring it back and kind of get it going kind of thing," Kyrou said. "It’s just tough, right? Like I said, I just need that reset, reflect and just try and focus on next year, coming in and having a great start and a competitive camp and get ready to get going."
It does beg the question of whether should that reset come here in St. Louis or somewhere else?
Kyrou does have a full no-trade clause, so if anything focused on seeking a trade could come down to whether he wants to move or not, but is this something the Blues would even entertain at this point or should seek to do? He has the same exact same contract parameters as Thomas.
"I think you take the last three years, 30-goal scorer," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said, describing Kyrou's play. "I think he’s a 30-goal scorer that had a bad year, had an off year and quite honestly, he never found a block of play during the whole season where it was 10 or 12 or 15 or 20 games. It was just a sporadic year. He’s in the prime of his career. He wants to be successful; how he’s going to go about doing that is something that he’s going to have to wrestle (coach) with Jim [Montgomery] and (GM incoming) Alex [Steen] on making sure this doesn’t happen again. If you’re going to play in this league for probably 15-16 years like he could, not every year’s going to be a Rembrandt, but if I’m him, I’m excited to get up tomorrow morning to go to work to prove to everybody that the '25-26 season was an aberration. 'That’s not who I am,' and I believe that’s what he’s going to do."
Armstrong has been in Kyrou's corner since drafting him in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft. But what about the coach?
"Jordan Kyrou is a dynamic offensive player who can make things happen out of nothing offensively," Montgomery said. "We didn’t see that as much this year as we did the year before. Everybody has seasons in their career where they dip and it’s going to be exciting to see how Jordan Kyrou rebounds with a terrific summer and comes back and is the player and the dynamic offensive player for the Blues that everybody expects."
It sure sounds like the Blues would be inclined to keeping and trying to build back around Kyrou and hoping this past season was an aberration. But if you keep him in the fold, it's imperative that they go out and find a true offensive-minded center that can blend in with the kind of play that makes him go, and that's utilizing his speed and quickness.
"You mean maybe not having [Dylan] Holloway on his line like he did the year before? Well, they started off together for the first month," Montgomery said. "I don’t think that it’s that. I think when you’re as talented a player as Jordan Kyrou, you make those players around you better and you’re able to have success. He’s had success playing with Tyler Bozak as his center, Ryan O’Reilly or Thomas. He’s had success, so I don’t attribute it to maybe who he was playing with at all."
Kyrou's name, like other veterans, was floated around the trade deadline in early March. Heck, his name's been linked to trade rumors dating back even further than that. It's just something he will have to handle, ask himself if that's his best course of action and take it to the team or dedicate himself to coming back better.
"It’s
part of the game, that (trade) stuff, right," Kyrou said. "All you can really do is kind of
focus on what you can control, and that’s just going and having a
good summer and focus on my training and focus on getting ready for
next year."
As for remaining in St. Louis, at least for now, there's no question in Kyrou's mind.
"Yeah for sure," he said. "I’ve loved my time here in St. Louis. The team has been amazing to me. I love the city, I love playing here. I think we’ve got a lot of good, young players coming in right now and I think there’s a really great future coming up for this team."
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