The Philadelphia Flyers are no strangers to a reclamation project, and there’s another worthy one on waivers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins waived Philip Tomasino on Tuesday, with teams able to claim him for free. The 24-year-old center has a cap hit of $1.75 million and is a restricted free agent after this season.
Tomasino was selected 24th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators. He put up 100 points in 62 OHL games the following season before graduating to the AHL, where he’s recorded 82 points (36 goals, 46 assists) in 89 games.
The forward has primarily played wing at the NHL level, taking just 112 faceoffs in 218 career games. He also hasn’t put up a ton of points with 34 goals and 61 assists, but that’s still an 82-game pace of 36 points.
Tomasino has plenty of skill but didn’t work out in Nashville, and the Predators traded him to Pittsburgh last season for a fourth-round pick. The change of scenery didn’t help too much, though, as he put up 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 50 games last year and just one assist in nine games this year before being waived.
The Flyers’ fourth line simply isn’t living up to expectations this season.
Garnet Hathaway is irritating opponents, but isn’t contributing offensively. Rodrigo Abols looked good in the preseason, but has also looked pedestrian in the regular season.
They’ve combined for no points in 31 games. The only fourth liner to record a point this season is Nikita Grebenkin, who has a goal and two assists, and still gets healthy scratched.
Tomasino already failed once as a reclamation project, but it would cost nothing for the Flyers to give him a shot.
If it works out, great! He’s on a low enough cap hit and could be in the mix for next season.
If not, it’s not too much of a loss. And perhaps more importantly, claiming him would remove the possibility of him turning it around and becoming a contributor for the Penguins.
The Flyers have over $8 million in cap space and could add a former first-round pick with scoring upside to their bottom six. He may not fit the prototypical mold of a fourth liner, but perhaps the Flyers need to get away from that and add some skill alongside those grinders.
We’re not expecting it to happen because it would require the Flyers sending a player like Abols through waivers, but Tomasino would improve the team on paper, and could find his game in an organization that has found some diamonds in the rough.
