Penguins add Philip Tomasino from Nashville for fourth round pick

Pittsburgh adds former first round talent

The Penguins swung a trade on Monday, adding 23-year old forward Philip Tomasino from the Predators. The price was fairly low, a fourth round pick a few years down the line in 2027. Pittsburgh has stocked up plenty of draft pick capital and could easily afford to make this deal.

From the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Philip Tomasino from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round draft pick (formerly the New York Rangers’ pick), it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Tomasino, who will travel to Pittsburgh today in hopes of practicing Tuesday, is signed through the end of the 2024-25 season and carries an average annual value of $825,000 at the NHL level.

The 23-year old forward has spent the previous five seasons with the Predators organization, splitting time between the Predators, as well as the Milwaukee Admirals and Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. In 159 career NHL games, Tomasino has recorded 23 goals, 48 assists and 71 points. In 89 career AHL games, the forward has tallied 36 goals, 46 assists and 82 points.

The 6-foot, 179-pound forward’s best NHL season came in his rookie year in 2021-22 with Nashville where he registered career highs in goals (11), assists (21) and points (32) in 76 games.

Prior to his professional career, Tomasino played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Niagara IceDogs and Oshawa Generals from 2017-20. In 190 career junior games, he tallied 79 goals, 117 assists and 196 points.

The Mississauga, Ontario native represented Team Canada at the 2019 World Under-18 Championship and 2021 World Junior Championship, earning a silver medal in 2021.

Tomasino was drafted in the first round (24th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft by Nashville.

Tomasino was selected a few picks after Sam Poulin in the draft a few years ago. The Pens sent Poulin back down to the AHL today to open up roster space to make the trade to add Tomasino, ironically enough.

Here’s Tomasino’s career resume from hockeydb:

All things considered, the Preds may have rushed Tomasino to the NHL in 2021-22, his draft+3 season where he was an NHL exclusive player. They wanted and expected him to take the next step and lock into their core, but also signed or added forwards like Ryan O’Reilly, Gustav Nyquist, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault in the past few years to make it more difficult for a young player to seize a key role on the team.

As such, Tomasino has had to get in where he’s fit in with Nashville over the years. He’s played all three different forward positions and in a variety of roles with the Preds over the years.

Ultimately this year, the fit wasn’t there anymore. Tomasino has averaged 11:18 per game in icetime this season, a career-low. Given his upside, age and the fact he’s had some decent moments in his career to the tune of 71 points in 159 games, Nashville was able to get something for him instead of sending him out on the waiver wire.

For the Penguins, this is all about upside and a fresh start. Their forward group is not very impressive and needs new blood and young talent. Tomasino isn’t a sure thing to fit, but a mid-round pick three drafts from now is an easy sacrifice for Pittsburgh to make considering that they have stockpiled excess picks already, and can easily recoup this spot in the future when they continue to sell off older players.

This will hardly solve all of the Pens’ recent problems, but gives them at least someone who should be hungry to prove his value at the NHL level — with some promise and signs of being a potentially capable player in the future.