NHL Prospect Profile Philip Tomasino

Statistics

Scout Quote

eliteprospects.com

 dynamic offensive talent … creates offence with hard work … very consistent … jumps in and out of holes to create chances … plays with passion

Last Work on Hockey:

Tomasino marries his skating ability with excellent stickhandling. He can make plays while moving at top speed. This gives him the ability to be an excellent playmaker. By quickly changing his speed, making a cut, or even changing the angle on his stick he can create a passing lane to a teammate. He also has very good vision to find those open teammates. Tomasino uses his speed to get in quickly on the forecheck and create offence by forcing turnovers and mistakes from his opponents.

AJ’s Thoughts

Here we go! This is one of my favorite guys in the draft. I love his game, beginning with his straight explosive skating. His first couple steps are no joke and he creates a ton of separation with them. He’s more of a deferential playmaker than a bulldog who looks for his own shot and he’s a wizard with the puck on his stick. He’s a high-end playmaker who is creative and has no issues creating offense.

I love that he doesn’t cheat on effort, either. Every shift he goes hard and is engaged, even though he’s iffy in the defensive end. He doesn’t like to get physical and that’s a legitimate concern. It’s really the only pockmark I found in his game, though, because everything else is really awesome. He turns the puck over a little too much but as someone who is constantly distributing the puck, that’s part of the game.

If it’s not obvious, I’m a big fan of his game overall. He didn’t play top line minutes or even on PP1 so there’s a lot of Barrett Hayton vibes here except it won’t cost a top-five selection.

Highlights

Avalanche Fit

His style is a picture-perfect fit for Colorado and the speed they try to bury teams with. He’s a center but could also move over to right wing if need be in the NHL. He’d be a dynamic addition and even though he doesn’t have superstar potential there’s without a doubt a top-six player here. He would be an electric talent to add to Colorado’s coffers and the exact opposite of the safe pick they went with last year in Martin Kaut. They could use a bigger and more physical presence but there are a lot of places to get that and selecting Tomasino 16th would be a small reach according to the rankings but a perfect fit. Fit is always important and Tomasino would be drafted into an environment to get the most out of his skills.

Rankings