F Tommaso De Luca - HC Ambrì-Piotta, NL (2023 undrafted)

[Eye of Ra]

Allessandro Segafredo, Anthony Salinitri, Peter Spornberger

Thats not even mentioning the ones in the AlpsHL which is a pretty good league also.

elite

 

[Gianpaolo]

Morini and Kostner in NLA.

Larkin in DEL.

Who else?

Davide Fadani in NLA (rookie goaltender in Lugano), Andreas Bernard in Villach (former starting goalie in the Liiga) and Peter Hochkofler (a checking line center/wing in Salzburg). That is all. Joachim Ramoser was not able to fully recover from his serious knee injury and his career is over. Alex Trivellato played many seasons in the DEL, this year he came back home. Not so many notable prospects for the future. Beside De Luca and Segafredo, there is some hope in two tall goaltenders (Damian Clara and Jakob Rabanser) and in Thomas Galimberti, a wing who moved to the Finnish junior league last summer.

 

[Gianpaolo]

He just made his professional debut with Ambri tonight in the Swiss league.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Taken by Spokane at #13 in the CHL import draft.

 

[pgfan66]

And it looks like he’ll report. Source: Tommaso De Luca.

 

[Ovechkin962]

This kid will be a first rounder next year, no doubt about that.

 

[pgfan66]

This kid will be a first rounder next year, no doubt about that.

That seems a little bold.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

That seems a little bold.

I actually agree with that statement - it is a little bold but he is the best Italian prospect we’ve seen in a LONG time.

 

[Ovechkin962]

I actually agree with that statement - it is a little bold but he is the best Italian prospect we’ve seen in a LONG time.

He would only be the second Italian born player to play in the NHL after Nelson Debenedet, who played in the 70s.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

He would only be the second Italian born player to play in the NHL after Nelson Debenedet, who played in the 70s.

Italy also has a very interesting goalie prospect available next year in Damian Clara - played for Italy’s u20 team at 16 and at 6’6” it will leave scouts drooling over what could be.

 

[pgfan66]

I actually agree with that statement - it is a little bold but he is the best Italian prospect we’ve seen in a LONG time.

That’s fine. But “first rounder, no doubt about that” is more than bold.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

That’s fine. But “first rounder, no doubt about that” is more than bold.

I think he could definitely go that high - it’s going to take a killer season for Spokane but I really like the kid in my limited viewings of him.

 

[Speyer]

I think he could definitely go that high - it’s going to take a killer season for Spokane but I really like the kid in my limited viewings of him.

I highly doubt that as I pointed out in my post in the import draft thread. Swiss based players that got taken in the first round via the CHL like Niederreiter, Meier, Ehlers, Hischier, Rossi etc. all had a much more impressive junior careers here than De Luca. Most of them also had significant success in their junior national teams that boosted their draft stock. De Luca, playing for Italy doesn't have that option. De Luca is probably closer to guys like Simon Knak, Lorenzo Canonica, Atilio Biasca or Valentin Nussbaumer before coming over. And of those only Knak and Nussbaumer were drafted as late round picks. Sure he could exceed expectations and do better than those players. But a first round level prospect, especially a 04 born one with one more year of hockey under his belt than most of his draft peers would have murdered the Swiss U20 league this year.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

I highly doubt that as I pointed out in my post in the import draft thread. Swiss based players that got taken in the first round via the CHL like Niederreiter, Meier, Ehlers, Hischier, Rossi etc. all had a much more impressive junior careers here than De Luca. Most of them also had significant success in their junior national teams that boosted their draft stock. De Luca, playing for Italy doesn't have that option. De Luca is probably closer to guys like Simon Knak, Lorenzo, Canonica or Valentin Nussbaumer before coming over. And of those only Knak and Nussbaumer got even drafted as late round picks. Sure he could exceed expectations and do better than those players. But a first round level prospect, especially a 04 born one with one more year of hockey under his belt than most of his draft peers would have murdered the Swiss U20 league this year.

I think that’s fair.

I think you bring up a good point with his age - It’s difficult to rank prospects durint their 16 year oldold seasons when alot of players haven’t yet been given an opportunity to play a good amount of minutes for their respective teams and show their abilitys with consistency - so De Luca, as an ‘04 looks better in comparison - although he is a very late ‘04 at that.

 

[pgfan66]

I highly doubt that as I pointed out in my post in the import draft thread. Swiss based players that got taken in the first round via the CHL like Niederreiter, Meier, Ehlers, Hischier, Rossi etc. all had a much more impressive junior careers here than De Luca. Most of them also had significant success in their junior national teams that boosted their draft stock. De Luca, playing for Italy doesn't have that option. De Luca is probably closer to guys like Simon Knak, Lorenzo Canonica, Atilio Biasca or Valentin Nussbaumer before coming over. And of those only Knak and Nussbaumer were drafted as late round picks. Sure he could exceed expectations and do better than those players. But a first round level prospect, especially a 04 born one with one more year of hockey under his belt than most of his draft peers would have murdered the Swiss U20 league this year.

I think that’s fair.

I think you bring up a good point with his age - It’s difficult to rank prospects durint their 16 year oldold seasons when alot of players haven’t yet been given an opportunity to play a good amount of minutes for their respective teams and show their abilitys with consistency - so De Luca, as an ‘04 looks better in comparison.

The thing I find interesting, though, is that De Luca already scored 15 goals and 35 points in 45 U20 games last year (on an incredibly awful team) and only scored 12 goals and 40 points in 43 games this year. So while his 16-year-old season was quite impressive – and in line with guys like Knak and Kurashev and not even crazy far behind Timo Meier's back in the day – he almost stagnated this season. Can't wait to see him in Spokane.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

I believe De Luca wants to represent Switzerland internationally - that’s why he hasn’t represented Italy before.

 

[Gianpaolo]

Swiss based players that got taken in the first round via the CHL like Niederreiter, Meier, Ehlers, Hischier, Rossi etc. all had a much more impressive junior careers here than De Luca. Most of them also had significant success in their junior national teams that boosted their draft stock. De Luca, playing for Italy doesn't have that option.

I know for sure that De Luca was considering to apply for Swiss citizenship and play for Switzerland. But now with the move to the USA he is going to lose the status of permanent resident of Switzerland and this may cause the application to be rejected (but honestly I am not sure about that, I am not a lawyer).

 

[pgfan66]

 

[BKarchitect]

I believe De Luca wants to represent Switzerland internationally - that’s why he hasn’t represented Italy before.

Bleh that’s no fun!

Guess Purdeller will have to carry the torch. Just stats watching but he may be underrated. The AlpsHL may be a lower tier league but it is still a professional mens league and Purdeller (and Luca Auer) put up crazy good stats as 17 year-olds - better than many actual national team guys from Italy. Wondering if both Purdeller and Auer have sneaky good years in the CHL next year based on this. And maybe even can sneak into the NHL draft.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Bleh that’s no fun!

Guess Purdeller will have to carry the torch. Just stats watching but he may be underrated. The AlpsHL may be a lower tier league but it is still a professional mens league and Purdeller (and Luca Auer) put up crazy good stats as 17 year-olds - better than many actual national team guys from Italy. Wondering if both Purdeller and Auer have sneaky good years in the CHL next year based on this. And maybe even can sneak into the NHL draft.

Damian Clara is another interesting name eligible from Italy next year too!

 

[Speyer]

Bleh that’s no fun!

Guess Purdeller will have to carry the torch. Just stats watching but he may be underrated. The AlpsHL may be a lower tier league but it is still a professional mens league and Purdeller (and Luca Auer) put up crazy good stats as 17 year-olds - better than many actual national team guys from Italy. Wondering if both Purdeller and Auer have sneaky good years in the CHL next year based on this. And maybe even can sneak into the NHL draft.

He will apply for Austrian citizenship in order to play in the next WJC book it

 

[Gianpaolo]

AlpsHL is definitely not a professional league, I am sorry. Except for the imports, every player has a daily regular job.

 

[kaiser matias]

He would only be the second Italian born player to play in the NHL after Nelson Debenedet, who played in the 70s.

Third.

Luca Sbisa was born on Sardinia.

 

[Gianpaolo]

Third.

Luca Sbisa was born on Sardinia.

Fourth.
Thomas Di Pauli played two games for the Pens in January 2020. He was born in Bolzano.

 

[kaiser matias]

Fourth.
Thomas Di Pauli played two games for the Pens in January 2020. He was born in Bolzano.

And this is when I learned there was another Italian-born NHLer.