by On November 25, 2024, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Philip Tomasino from the Nashville Predators. The former 24th pick in the 2019 draft is just the latest first-round selection to leave the organization in the last two years.
Pittsburgh fans welcomed the 23-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario with open arms. For those who didn’t know much about Tomasino, here are five interesting things to learn about the newest member of the Penguins.
Named to the AHL All-Rookie Team
During the 2020-21 AHL season, Tomasino made his AHL debut with the Chicago Wolves. In 29 games, he scored 13 goals with 32 points while finishing the campaign with a plus-20 rating.
He tied for the team lead with Tommy Novak while compiling the third most penalty minutes with 43.
Interestingly, Tomasino has played with several current NHL players: Tanner Jeannot, Morgan Geekie, Seth Jarvis, Luke Evangelista, Connor Ingram and Petr Mrazek.
After the season, Tomasino earned AHL All-Star team honors.
First NHL goals against Vezina Trophy winners and finalists
Tomasino made his NHL debut on October 14, 2021 with the Predators against the Seattle Kraken. He scored his first career goal against Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin in his second game on October 21, 2021.
Two nights later, Tomasino scored his second goal against two-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. His third goal came against former Vezina finalist Thatcher Demko.
Of his 25 career goals to that point, Tomasino lit the lamp against several Vezina-caliber goalies, including Marc-André Fleury and Jonathan Quick, and several William M. Jennings winners like Thomas Greiss and Jeremy Swayman.
15th leading scorer in draft class
The Predators drafted Tomasino with the 24th pick in the 2019 draft. Top picks that year included Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko, Kirby Dach and Bowen Byram.
Other names drafted before Tomasino include Philip Broberg, Trevor Zegras, Spencer Knight, Cole Caufield, Alex Newhook and Samuel Poulin.
Among the 92 picks from the 2019 draft who will skate in the NHL, Tomasino is tied with Peyton Krebs and Shane Pinto with 73 points, 15th. Additionally, he is only one of 23 skaters to score 20+ goals in the league.
Remains useless against only four NHL clubs
Despite only playing in 162 games over the past four seasons, Tomasino has been busy scoring against every opponent.
The 23-year-old center has 25 goals, 48 points and 73 points and has enjoyed playing against the Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets, recording five points against each club.
Of the 32 teams, Tomasino is useless against only four clubs: the Edmonton Oilers, the Montreal Canadiens, the Utah Hockey Club and, of course, the Predators.
Almost a point per game player in the AHL
After four stellar seasons in the OHL with the Niagara Ice Dogs and Oshawa Generals, Tomasino made his AHL debut in 2020-21 with the Wolves. He had 32 points in 29 games as a rookie before earning a permanent job with the Predators in 2021-22.
These are the kinds of opportunities Philip Tomasino has had regularly with the #Preds but he would either shoot away from the net or he would shoot the puck and hit the goalie right in the chest.
Playing in Milwaukee did him good: 6 goals and 11 points in 15 gamespic.twitter.com/W4l8X1WFo2
-Michael Gallagher (@MGsports_) March 20, 2024
In 2022-23, he split his time between the NHL and AHL, scoring 32 points in 38 games in the minors. The following season saw a repeat, with Tomasino scoring 18 points in 22 games with the Milwaukee Admirals.
His career points per game average is 0.45 in the NHL, but it’s more than double at 0.92 in the AHL. Since joining the Penguins, Tomasino is already producing above his NHL average, scoring at a 0.66 pace in three games.
