Stop if you've seen this one before; the Nashville Predators have let go of another young and talented former first round draft pick in exchange for peanuts and a bag of hockey pucks.
Philip Tomasino has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a 2027 fourth round pick, which let's be honest with ourselves here, who knows if the Predators will actually every use that pick. It will probably be included in another trade somewhere down the line.
Either way, Tomasino marks yet another blemish on the Predators front office on botching first round draft picks. Tomasino had a lot of hope, and even performed well when given the ice time. Unfortunately, the organization moved a different direction, so this trade shouldn't really send you into too much shock.
Tomasino never found consistent and solid footing with Nashville Predators
Tomasino had only appeared in 11 games this season while averaging 11:18 of ice time. That's the lowest of his his four-year NHL career after getting a one-year, $825,000 contract extension just three months ago right on the doorstep of the 2024-25 season opening. He held RFA status and caught some preseason storylines on what the Predators would do. They signed him, and then quickly said "nah, were done".
I get both sides of the argument here; yes, Tomasino didn't do enough to pop off the screen and earn regular top-six minutes. Also this past offseason really cemented his fate.
The Predators went for broke in free agency by adding superstar forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. Now it's been a slow process to see them earn their money, but GM Barry Trotz is kind of hammered to the wall to stay committed to them, and not at all committed to Tomasino.
The fourth-round pick is better than getting waived like Dante Fabbro just was, but still not much to even talk about. Sure, you can find gems in the middle rounds of the draft, but it's like playing the lottery scratch off at your local gas station.
This brings the Predators' projected total salary cap space to approximately $5.9 million. They have room to go shopping through trades, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Trotz eventually does that. But as I've been saying, the Predators need a long winning streak and they're in the midst of a brutal stretch of opponents. They knocked off one top team in the Jets, now they got the Devils on Monday. Another top-tier team.
As for what this means for the lineup, it just means this organization is more committed to guys like Michael McCarron and Cole Smith as their go to bottom six guys. Quite frankly, Tomasino wasn't meant for bottom-six minutes anyway. If he wasn't in the long-term plan to be a top-six player, then this is where you end up.
I also read this as meaning the confidence is growing in Zachary L'Heureux's long-term viability. So hey, we have that to hold onto at least.
Fedor Svechkov just made his NHL debut against Winnipeg, and although there wasn't anything to write home about, it's way too early to know how that will turn out. Head Coach Andrew Brunette brought up that Svechkov was obviously nervous about his first game but settled in.
The Predators have to obviously get way better at developing first round draft picks. This awful trend that stalemates franchises needs to end with the more recent first round picks of Tanner Molendyk, Matthew Wood, Joakim Kemell and Yegor Surin.