Welcome to Broad Street Hockey’s Summer 2025 Top Under 25! The series is back and with the Philadelphia Flyers focusing so much on the future, it’s more important than ever. Join us as we rank the 25 best players under the age of 25 for the next few weeks.

No. 25: Samu Tuomaala

2024-25 Primary League/Team: Lehigh Valley (AHL)
2024-25 Statistics: 11 G, 21 A in 46 GP
Age as of 9/15/2025: 22 (1/8/2003)
Acquired Via: 2021 NHL Draft – Round 2, Pick 46

As we kick off this series, we turn to talk about Samu Tuomaala, who has, since he was drafted back in 2021 (the first pick they made in that draft after trading away their first round pick for Rasmus Ristolainen, we recall), has been on an absolute developmental roller coaster.

Tuomaala had, in some ways, a challenging first season in the AHL after an even more challenging road to get there in the first place — bounced around leagues and levels, struggling to find a role for himself — and while his sophomore season saw him making some positive strides, there are other areas of his game where bad habits continue to stick, and puts him at the risk of getting lost in the shuffle. He’s one of our more significant drops in summer over summer rankings, as he falls from 13 to 25, and there’s, as they say, a lot to unpack here.

How did Tuomaala’s 2024-25 season go? Is his stock trending up or down from where it was entering the year?

Tuomaala’s rookie season in the AHL, while imperfect, certainly saw him finding his game offensively, putting up a tidy 15 goals and 43 points over 69 games and stepping up as one of the real bright spots on an offense that really struggled to score over the whole of the season. And he did continue to build up this area of his game in this past season, increasing his points getting pace a tick, and while he didn’t reach the same individual scoring mark, we saw him beginning to rack up more assists as his playmaking game began to come alive.

But, of course, there was never really any question of what Tuomaala is able to offer offensively — he can beat goaltenders clean with the strength of his shot and uses his speed nicely as an added layer of threat, this much we know — so the bigger focus was on elevating some of the details of his game, bringing them up to match the level of that pure scoring.

 “I still think Samu’s really young,” Flyers Director of Player Development Riley Armstrong told Phantoms broadcaster Bob Rotruck last fall. “I think for his game to take the next step, he needs to get stronger below the dots, in the offensive zone. And that’s just holding on to pucks, not getting rid of pucks. He’s like, he has the big butt on him, and he has those big quads, and he’s gotta get low and have a good stance and be able to protect pucks if he wants to play at the next level… So I think with him holding on to pucks, being more of that boards, grind type player as well, add that this his game with his speed and the way he can shoot a puck, you know, I really do think we’re just scratching the surface with him.”

The idea for Tuomaala this season was to work on those finer points to help feed his offensive game, but also to make sure that he’s remaining engaged when he doesn’t have the puck, and this proved to be something of a challenge — there were significant portions of the season when he looked to be getting too tunnel visioned on the puck, letting his defense slip in pursuit of it, and letting his frustration further spiral his scoring droughts, and all of this led to some palpable frustration from the coaching staff as it seemed like their messaging wasn’t quite getting through.

It was all a pretty wildly up and down learning process, but by the back half of the season, though, he seemed to be getting things moving in the right direction again, but any momentum he was building was cut down when he took a lower body injury early in March which held him out for the rest of the season.

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

This next season, then, will be about well and truly making strides in his game away from the puck and in getting to the hard areas with it, rather than relying on a straightforward skate and shoot type of game. And here is where the change in voice — as John Snowden takes over as their new head coach — might go a long way. The Phantoms are looking to make some changes to how they’re running things, and the combination of a renewed focus on playing a hard and uptempo style of game along with a more experienced coach delivering the messaging leaves a lot of optimism that the plans and hopes they’re bringing into the season will be more actionable, and a player like Tuomaala should benefit from that. As one of the more experienced players in the mix down there, he should still be given a substantial workload of minutes and a lot of runway to get his game really trending right again. What he does with those minutes will be up to him, but, if nothing else, the expectations have been made clear.

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

Tuomaala, if nothing else, finds himself at something of an interesting crossroads. There’s NHL potential left in him, to be sure, and the organization seems committed to putting the work in to get him closer to reaching that potential, but with him moving into his third season of professional play in North America, we’re creeping up on make or break time. Given the volume of players vying for similar role with the Flyers down the road a bit, Tuomaala will need to step up and take an active run at getting towards the front of that group. We’re certainly not expecting him to be snap his fingers and show up for this season as a finished product, but he needs to show something in the way of growth towards a more well-rounded professional game. He’s in the mix for a spot on the Flyers if he can keep that development moving, but he’s also really at risk of being overtaken before long.

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

Now, all of that said, while there’s still a good bit of work to be done to get his game where it needs to be for him to be successful at the next level, the overall upside to that game hasn’t changed. If Tuomaala puts it all together there’s a chance that he could turn himself into a productive winger at the NHL level who can put up some points and give the team a much needed boost in the speed department. But, of course, the longer he goes without being able to bring things together decreases the chances that he’s going to get there. After all, the winger pool in this organization is a crowded one, and there aren’t that many spots up for grabs, so while Tuomaala is still young and has some developmental runway ahead of him, the clock is ticking for him to make some marked steps forward, lest his window pass him by.

Previously in Philadelphia Flyers Summer 2025 Top 25 Under 25: