Philip Tomasino and 4 NHL Prospects Who Would Be Better Off With a Trade
Philip Tomasino and 4 NHL Prospects Who Would Be Better Off With a Trade0 of 5
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On occasion, a young NHL player or prospect will, to put it simply, hit a wall with their initial team. This stall out can be for several reasonsâinjury, poor development process, or consistent turnover in the team’s front office year in and year out are just a few options. It’s usually a combination of several.
As it happens, every guy on this list is from the 2019 draft. It’s unsurprising that, five years later, some of the players drafted that year are hitting a make-or-break point. Five years is a long time, and although they all came to this point through various development paths, it’s not an unreasonable time to start wondering what else is out there (or, in our case, have someone on the internet who overthinks the development path of prospects do it for you).
Philip Tomasino, Pittsburgh Penguins (formerly Nashville Predators)1 of 5
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Our title is a bit misleading here; for Tomasino, it is more accurate to say he will be better off with this trade. The Nashville Predators shipped him off (a disturbing trend of theirs with first-round picks of late) to the Penguins for a fourth-round pick in 2027 this week. A lot of Predators fans appear to find this extremely insulting, but whether that’s true depends entirely on where Tomasino goes from here.
He’s been in the Predators organization for five years, although he returned to the OHL his first post-draft season and spent what 2020-21 season we did have with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. At that time, the Predators had two general managers and two head coaches. (What does it say about the state of the NHL that feels relatively stable?) He played 159 NHL games and netted 71 points, including 1 assist in 11 games with the team this season.
That’s not horrible, but it’s not the player those of us who scouted him in his draft yearâincluding the Predatorsâexpected him to be. At the time, the perception of Tomasino was an explosive skater who was fearless with the puck, a hard worker who was dynamic offensively, and who had put in the work to improve the defensive side of his game.
Can he recover that form with the Penguins? Head coach Mike Sullivan has him playing with Evgeni Malkin, and it’s too early to judge how that’s going to goâsomething that Sullivan hopefully knows. Leaving Tomasino with Malkin for an extended period (unless things simply aren’t working) will be a good way to allow him to settle in and to allow the coaching staff to gauge what sort of player he could be long-term.
If this was the Mike Sullivan Penguins in their heyday, I’d say he would be a perfect Penguins reclamation project. As things currently stand? Who knows. But it should be fun to find out.
Alex Turcotte, Los Angeles Kings2 of 5
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Since his draft year, Alex Turcotte has been dealt a horrible hand when it comes to injuries. When I say a change of scenery might be good for him, that’s not a slight to either Turcotte or the Kings. But it’s a lot easier to trade a guy than it is to completely exorcise bad injury luck from an arena.
Thanks to injuries galore, Turcotte has played 50 career games with the Kings and recorded 11 points. That simply isn’t up to the standard of the kind of player he is. In 2019 I wanted to rank Turcotte top 5 all season because of his hockey sense and work ethic. His vision and playmaking skills were elite.
It makes sense that when you can’t get consistent runs of games in the league, you aren’t going to be able to shake off the rust and get back to your core skills. He’s looking better this season, with 7 points in 18 games with the Kings. But being consistently injured weighs on you mentally, and I just can’t help but think that a fresh environment free of the reminders of all he’s struggled with might give him a boost and be a better playing situation.
Ryan Suzuki, Carolina Hurricanes3 of 5
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Ryan Suzuki hasn’t even made his NHL debut. That’s part of why he’s on this list.
Suzuki is another case where his inclusion here is neither his fault nor the team’s. He missed two months after suffering a horrible eye injury early in the 2019-20 season that left him with a permanent blind spot in his right eye. And then there was the COVID-19 pandemic derailing seasons left and right. And then there was an upper-body injury, and another upper-body injury. Much like Turcotte, Suzuki has missed significant chunks of every season until now.
For that reason, other Carolina Hurricanes prospects passed him in the organization’s hierarchy and the team is in a spot where a young forward finding a permanent place on the roster is a bit of a bloodbath. Suzuki has appeared in all of the Chicago Wolves’ 14 games so far this season, and he has 10 pointsâa good sign that he’s regaining consistency and offensive momentum. It could do him some good to have a fresh start with an organization that is hungry for young, offensively skilled forwards on the cheap (the Penguins should maybe grab him too, honestly).
Nils Hoglander, Vancouver Canucks4 of 5
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At the time of writing, there’s a lot of trade interest in Nils Hoglanderâand that’s as it should be. The lackluster offensive numbers on the board for the Canucks forward don’t tell the whole tale when it comes to the kind of player Hoglander could be. He may only have 5 points so far this season, but the 24 goals from last season (where he was mostly playing fourth-line minutes) are a lot more indicative of his potential.
Per ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, teams interested in Hoglander include the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hoglander would make sense for any of those teams, given his upside of speed and high-end offensive skill. His exceptional puck skills, playmaking abilities, and motor were noted as some of his strongest assets in his draft season.
Bringing those back and reaching his potential probably isn’t going to happen in an environment where he’s averaging less than ten minutes a night and feeling the mental weight of a scoring drought. Put him in a new environment for a fresh start and see what happens.
Matthew Robertson, New York Rangers5 of 5
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There was a flurry of discussion at the beginning of this season about whether this was finally the year that Matthew Robertson made the New York Rangers’ roster.
He did not.
It’s been a long road for Robertson, who hasn’t quite lived up to the hopes the Rangers had when they drafted him since leaving junior hockey. He also encountered injuries along the way, something that is a common theme when prospects take longer to break into the NHL. He’s looking better this season, with 8 points in 17 games. Improved poise and a high hockey IQ will go a long way. Robertson is more of a longshot project than the other guys on his list, but there’s still enough potential there to make you wonder what if.
Recently the Rangers’ front office has decided that their winning-but-not-winning-enough record is a good enough reason to let other teams know that guys like literal captain Jacob Trouba and guy who is spiritually also kind of captain Chris Kreider are available for trade. (Trouba isn’t a surprise; we’ve heard this song before. But Kreider being included is a bit offensive.)
If the Rangers do manage to find a new home for Trouba, maybe they call up Robertson and this entire section is moot. He was the last defenseman cut from camp. But if Robertson still isn’t their choice then, it’s time to let him move on and find a team that needs a defenseman like him on their NHL roster.
