Penguins forward Philip Tomasino clears waivers

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Philip Tomasino cleared waivers Wednesday. That formality allows the team to send him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League should it choose to do so.

The 2025-26 season has been underwhelming for Tomasino, who has been a healthy scratch for 10 of a possible 19 games. In the nonet of contests he has dressed for, he has been limited to a single assist while averaging 12:10 of ice time per contest. Much of his deployment has come as a right winger on the third line.

That futility has happened in the wake of a productive preseason in which the 24-year-old Tomasino was the team’s second-leading scorer with five points (two goals, three assists) in five contests.

Nearly a year ago (Nov. 25, 2024), the Penguins acquired Tomasino from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in 2027.

A first-round selection (No. 24 overall) of the Predators in 2019, Tomasino struggled with that team over parts of four seasons but appeared to gain traction with the Penguins. In 50 games following the trade, he scored 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) while averaging 13:27 of ice time per contest, much of which came on the second line skating with All-Star center Evgeni Malkin.

Six of his goals last season were game-winning scores. Only franchise center Sidney Crosby (10) had more.

Tomasino entered the offseason as a pending restricted free agent, and the Penguins went through a minor bit of rigamarole of not extending him a qualifying offer, allowing him to briefly become an unrestricted free agent, primarily to avoid the risk of a potentially pricey arbitration award. Ultimately, they re-signed him to a one-year contract worth $1.75 million.

He is scheduled to become a restricted free agent once again this upcoming offseason.

Tomasino was a full participant during Wednesday’s practice session, largely operating as a reserve with the fourth line. Including Tomasino, the Penguins currently have 23 active players on the NHL roster, a figure which is the league’s limit.

Notes:

• The Penguins’ lines and pairs during practice were:

19 Connor Dewar - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust

13 Kevin Hayes - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 39 Anthony Mantha

18 Tommy Novak - 81 Ben Kindel - 22 Sam Poulin

15 Joona Koppanen - 46 Blake Lizotte - 43 Danton Heinen

28 Parker Wotherspoon - 65 Erik Karlsson

5 Ryan Shea - 58 Kris Letang

27 Ryan Graves - 75 Connor Clifton

24 Matt Dumba - 45 Harrison Brunicke

• The top power-play unit included Crosby, Karlsson, Kindel, Malkin and Rust. The second unit involved Hayes, Heinen, Letang, Mantha and Novak.