This morning, Nashville Predators recalled Philip Tomasino from the Milwaukee Admirals.
Tomasino, a first-round pick (24th overall) in 2019, will draw into the Predators lineup for the first time in the 2022-23 season tonight against the Arizona Coyotes on a line with Ryan Johansen and Mikael Granlund and one of the team power-play units according to Nashville head coach John Hynes.
After an injury to star forward Filip Forsberg, who left Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after a hit from defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen, after the impact, Forsberg fell hard to the ice and later needed assistance off from teammates.
Nashville announced on Sunday Forsberg is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
In Tomasino’s first season in the NHL, he played 76 games with Nashville in 2021-22, scoring 32 points (11G, 21A). Tomasino gets a chance to prove he doesn’t belong in the AHL and should have never been returned to Milwaukee in the first place at the start of the 2022-23 season.
In his first season for the Admirals, Tomasino has helped the team reach second place in the AHL’s Central Division with a 28-15-1-2 record. He ranks third in team points only behind Luke Evangelista (37) and Kiefer Sherwood (35) with 32 (12G,20A). At the same time, he was leading Milwaukee in power-play points with 13.
With Nashville being near the bottom (fourth last, to be exact) of the NHL power-play rankings, according to www.statmuse.com, recalling a player of Tomasino’s caliber could only help fix that area for the Predators.
Nashville currently sits fifth in NHL’s Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference Wild-Card standings. Suppose Tomasino can get into the Predators lineup and produce immediately in the absence of Forsberg. In that case, he could make a case to stick in Nashville even when Forsberg returns to play.
If Nashville thinks they can return to the NHL Playoffs in 2023, they need all the offensive help they can get, as they have only scored 138 goals in 50 games as a team.
