We’re deep into August and things are pretty quiet on the hockey news front, at least for the Flyers, but they still have a few loose ends that needed (or might need) tying up, and they knocked out one of those today.
The Flyers announced this afternoon that they’ve signed their 2021 second round pick Samu Tuomaala to a three-year entry level contract. Tuomaala spent the 2020-21 season with Kärpät’s U20 team, where he put up 31 points (15 goals and 16 assists) in 30 regular season games, and four points (1G, 4A) in five playoff games. He also represented Finland in the U18 World Championship, and he recorded 11 points (5G, 6A) in seven games, leading his team in scoring.
In short: he’s good, gang! Here’s what Flyers’ AGM Brent Flahr and Director of European Scouting Joakim Grundberg had to say about him.
“He’s a guy we targeted. We kind of thought he would probably go at the end of the first or somewhere in the 20s and he fell. A real talented winger. Great skater. Real dynamic speed. Loves to shoot the puck. Talented kid. He’s going to take a little time to get stronger and put on a little weight. A talented kid that has real good offensive upside.” – Flahr
“Obviously very excited getting him. He was rated as a first round talent. We were able to get him in the middle of the second round, so we’re really excited about that. To us, he has elite speed and high skill. Very good shot. High-offensive upside. There’s things he’s got to work on like his overall game and obviously getting stronger. We’re really excited. We see a lot of upside there.” – Grundberg
Now, it may still be a little while before we see Tuomaala make the jump over to North America. He’s slated to join Kärpät (Liiga) next season, and this ELC can slide to allow that to happen. But he’s locked in with the Flyers all the same, and it’s a bit of housekeeping taken care of.
