Philip Tomasino's new team revealed after Penguins placed him on waivers
Photo credit: Edit from The Hockey Writers
Pittsburgh placed Philip Tomasino on waivers yesterday, and he officially went unclaimed, which means he will now be a member of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Flyers had also placed Max Guenette on waivers yesterday after acquiring him from the Senators, and he, too, went unclaimed.
Pittsburgh's thought process in placing Philip Tomasino on waivers
The Penguins traded a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Nashville Predators to acquire Tomasino last season. Pittsburgh likely viewed Tomasino as a player who could potentially benefit from a change of scenery.
The 2019 first-round pick was once viewed as one of the Predators' top prospects, as The Athletic's Scott Wheeler ranked Tomasino No. 2 in the Predators' system back in 2021. He never seemed to live up to that hype.
After Tomasino's rookie season back in 2021-22, it looked like he was still on track to live up to the hype. During that period, he scored 11 goals and 32 points, providing useful secondary scoring to a Predators team that reached the playoffs.
Tomasino would then go on to score 38 points across his next 72 NHL games in 2022-23 and 2023-24, but those numbers didn't tell the whole story of his other struggles.
Why Philip Tomasino lost the trust of his head coach
Tomasino had multiple defensive lapses and an inability to consistently win puck battles or play through the middle of the ice. Those struggles cost him the trust of Predators head coach Andrew Brunette.
Tomasino averaged 15:36 time-on-ice under John Hynes the year prior, but his ice time fell to just 12:34 per game under Brunette after all those costly mistakes.
Here's hoping this stint in the AHL will serve as a wake-up call for Tomasino and lead him to get his career back on track.
Previously on HockeyUnplugged
| POLL |
NOVEMBRE 19 | 71 ANSWERS Philip Tomasino's new team revealed after Penguins placed him on waivers Will Philip Tomasino have success in the AHL? |
| Yes | 61 | 85.9 % |
| No | 10 | 14.1 % |
| List of polls |