Samu Tuomaala spent this last season playing for the Karpat U20 team as well as making the jump to Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. But he has bigger goals in mind moving forward. After the first on-ice session of the Flyers development camp, Tuomaala made the announcement that he would be coming over to North America.
This comes a few months after the Flyers selected Tuomaala in the second round of the NHL Draft. He was also taken in the CHL Import Draft by the Sudbury Wolves back in 2020 as well. So he does have the option to play in the OHL this upcoming season. But that’s not what he is trying to do.
Tuomaala is hoping he can jump right in and play with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL. It’s a lofty goal and one that will certainly take a lot of hard work to achieve. When talking about what he’ll need to work on moving ahead, Tuomaala said it’s all about getting better with his physicality and his defense.
"“I think my first goal is to play in the American Hockey League. But, let’s see.”"
When Tuomaala signed his entry level contract two weeks ago, it seemed like he was ready to make the jump over. But the AHL might be too lofty of a goal right now. He only ended up playing five games for Karpat and was unable to register a point. He had limited ice time in those game as well. From a development standpoint, heading to the OHL is probably the best bet for Tuomaala.
While he has the skating ability and the hands to make plays, he still needs to work on his two-way game. And his strength is another point of emphasis as well. Players at the AHL level will be able to exploit some of his weaknesses a lot easier than those around his age in the AHL. Tuomaala has also been known to have trouble with stick handling when he is facing pressure. That is definitely something that AHL players will be able to take advantage of if he isn’t able to clean that up.
Tuomaala will have these next few days of development camp to prove to the Flyers that he is ready to take the next step in his professional career. If he does end up coming into the AHL, it will not burn the first year of his entry-level deal. The team will be able to use the Slide Rule in order to push his ELC back a season. It would also give them a much closer look at his progress throughout the season.
It would be quite a big jump for the 18-year-old, but we did see players like Tyson Foerster and Zayde Wisdom succeed this past season after coming directly from the draft to the AHL. They did play in juniors prior, though. Time will tell what the Flyers decide to do with Tuomaala this upcoming season. He certainly has the confidence, it’s just a matter of backing that up with his skills.