Philadelphia Flyers Top 25 Under 25: No. 21, Samu Tuomaala

No. 21: Samu Tuomaala

2022-23 League/Team(s): Jukurit (Liiga), Peliitat, Kettera (Mestis) 2022-23 Statistics: 55 GP, 29 G, 24 A, 49 PTS Age: 20 Acquired In: 2021 NHL Draft - Round 2, Pick 46

How did Tuomaala’s 2022-23 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?

Safe to say it’s been a rough go of things since we (well me) ranked Tuomaala at No. 14 in these rankings in September of 2021. Then he was a shoot-first sniper with speed to burn and loads of intrigue headed to Finland’s top league with his stock certainly trending up.

Since then he’s bounced out of the top league in Finland (Liiga) and gone down on loan to Mestis, a lower league, but used the time and opportunity well this past season to the tune of 26 goals in 29 games to go along with 46 points. The reduced competition certainly provided a spark in Tuomaala’s production — he had literally 0 points in 14 Liiga games with Jukurit — but it was other parts of his game that should spark hope for the former second-round pick, and ones the Flyers are taking notice of heading into 2023-24 where he could stick with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Using his demotion from Finland’s top professional league as a wake-up call, Tuomaala focused on his game away from the puck and away from the offensive flair that made him a top-50 draft pick coveted by the Flyers and other teams. He turned to his 200-foot game and some of the details outside of his comfort zone to turn heads throughout the season and in Development Camp to turn the tide on re-establishing himself as a viable NHL-caliber prospect.

\"He\'s not, every shift, expecting to score goals or having the offense. He understands it better now, reading the game, when to go for offense. I think the overall game, the defensive part of the game, has gotten better. He\'s valuing it more, the little details, that are going to help a team win, so it\'s not all about offense anymore.\"

— Flyers player development coach Sami Kapanen at 2023 Development Camp

What are we expecting from Tuomaala this season? What should we be looking for from him?

Tuomaala enjoyed success — at least offensively — during the young stages of his professional career but has seen his overall development and trajectory stall in the last two seasons, culminating with a demotion to Finland’s second tier professional league. Though he rebounded production-wise, the scoring could have been a product of that drop in competition and less of a breakthrough in his game during his season split between ages 19-20.

But alongside that returned offensive production last season were signs during Development Camp that Tuomaala was brining some extra juice not previously on display. While he flashed plenty of that advertised speed during times, he’ll need to string together periods of consistent two-way play with scoring production to further rehab his prospect stock.

https://twitter.com/JHallNBCS/status/1677086333565534209?s=20 Wasn’t using the body like this a year ago.

https://twitter.com/JHallNBCS/status/1676951614048075777?s=20 This guy’s fast.

Tuomaala’s plan is to play for the Phantoms full-time this season , and there should be plenty of chances to show off his more well-rounded game while showing the Flyers the offensive skill and skating that made him such an intriguing prospect just a short time ago.

The Flyers need to keep rebuilding Tuomaala’s confidence in his offensive game while he works on the other finer details in order to see exactly what they might have in the 20-year-old, but it’s a great sign he could be the American Hockey League to do just that on the smaller ice and potentially less distractions with all of the movement in Finland’s system.

How does Tuomaala fit in the Flyers’ rebuild? Is it likely he’s going to be a part of the next good Flyers team?

Given the past couple years of his development, the Flyers essentially are looking at a lottery ticket here in the former second-round pick. While he was billed with the potential of a first-rounder headed into his draft, the stagnation in his development in Finland’s top league is a clear sign that other teams felt as though it wasn’t all there for Tuomaala to have as clear a development path to the NHL and the Flyers have found that out here.

On the positive side, he doesn’t turn 21 until January, took the right approach to his demotion in leagues last year, and came out absolutely flying at Development Camp ahead of potentially full-time AHL time with the Phantoms. That’s all good stuff and encouraging on top of having spent the back half of last season seeing the puck go in the net a bunch after flaming out in Liiga. If he can recapture his offensive confidence and use his speed to create not only with the puck on his stick but away from it, the Flyers could certainly see him a part of the next good Flyers team in some role.

What do we think Tuomaala‘s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?

With his lack of size and rather pigeonholed skill set it was tough to imagine a role outside of the top-six prior to his fall from prospect grace a bit over the last two years, but we’ve seen guys make a living out of their legs and tenacity in the bottom-six for good teams and Tuomaala certainly has that potential.

If Tuomaala can turn anything close to what former 46th overall pick Daniel Sprong has after floundering around three teams before finding success with the Seattle Kraken this past season that would be a tremendous outcome for the Flyers. But as we’ve seen with Sprong, that might not happen until way later on, but theoretically the Flyers have loads of time and chances to give to Tuomaala before they would look at giving up like those teams did.

Anything else?

https://twitter.com/DanKnightly/status/1634218100936548356?s=20 Not the biggest fan of Chuck Fletcher, lol.

How we voted at No. 21 and for Samu Tuomaala.

Talking Points