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

[Hinterland]

Good news coming soon!!!!!!

So, what's the news?

I understand that the return of Heim was unfortunate for DeLuca but if he really does no longer get a chance in Ambri (which I wouldn't quite understand because he was playing well) then why doesn't he just play for Bellinzona? It's Ambri's farm after all.

 

[Hinterland]

Just scored his first NL goal.

He's back in the lineup between Formenton and Zwerger centering Ambri's topline in the absence of the suspended Laurent Dauphin.

 

[pgfan66]

Just scored his first NL goal.

He's back in the lineup between Formenton and Zwerger centering Ambri's topline in the absence of the suspended Laurent Dauphin.

It’s a very weird in and out. He jumps in and out of the lineup but when he’s in he’s in the top 6 – except his ice time never reflects that.

 

[Hinterland]

It’s a very weird in and out. He jumps in and out of the lineup but when he’s in he’s in the top 6 – except his ice time never reflects that.

He's getting quality ice time and he's taking advantage...which is good to see. His stats aren't all that bad considering his age and the fact that he's playing in one of Europe's top leagues despite having never played vs men before. 5 points in 13 games is a fair scoring output to start.
I wouldn't even mind the in and out of the lineup. I just think he should play for Bellinzona as well for as long as he's not a regular in Ambri. SL is a 2nd tier league but it's still a pro league and the level is higher than in the WHL where he played last season. Unless there's an injury or sickness we don't know about I think he should have played for Bellinzona already. Does Ambri somehow not want to send him there or is it false pride from DeLuca's side? Did he want to leave Ambri and that's why he sat out for so long? I don't know but I agree it's weird.

 

[Gianpaolo]

He just scored a beauty against Lugano... can keep his head up and read the game very well

 

[independent observer]

This Italian prospect has 31 points in 39 games in the Swiss U20-Elit league. Even more interesting is that he turned 16 right before the turn of the year. By way of comparison, Noah Greuter, a 2022 draft prospect, has 22 points in 30 games. Does anyone know much about this guy? This seems pretty solid.

Tommaso De Luca at eliteprospects.com

Noah who??? Was he even drafted???
Even kimo gruber had better stats and did he got drafted?
That italian prospect is not worth writing about…

Only decent prospects in suiza are dominichellis son and jonah neunenswan

 

[MS]

I'm still not sure how De Luca wasn't drafted last year.

 

[pgfan66]

I'm still not sure how De Luca wasn't drafted last year.

It’s 100% that teams didn’t like his decision to go back to Switzerland.

 

[Gianpaolo]

According with Swiss newspaper The Blick, he has still no Swiss citizenship and he could need to wait until March 2024. The reason for that is the time is spent in the USA.

 

[LeProspector]

According with Swiss newspaper The Blick, he has still no Swiss citizenship and he could need to wait until March 2024. The reason for that is the time is spent in the USA.

lol last year of WJC eligibility, too

 

[cg98]

Damn. Whose going to the Spengler this year? He can still play there if his club goes lol.

 

[Hinterland]

Damn. Whose going to the Spengler this year? He can still play there if his club goes lol.

Ambri does indeed play the Spengler Cup.

Also, DeLuca is currently a regular part of Ambri's top6. The scoring is gonna come eventually. The delay re his citizenship is a setback though, no doubt about it. I think a strong WJC20 would have helped his draft chances as an overager quite a bit.

 

[Speyer]

Sucks that he is probably missing the WJC as he would probably have been our best forward. Thats Swiss bureaucracy for you. At least he seems to have been trending upwards a bit in Ambri in the last few weeks.

 

[pgfan66]

Rumour has it he was ready to go back to Spokane in December if he doesn’t get his Swiss passport in time for WJC anyway. Had everything worked out but then Ambri gave him more consistent ice time and he had some good games, so he decided to stay after all. Too bad about the WJC.

 

[Hinterland]

Just scored a goal vs Geneva. Also seems to have secured his spot on Ambri's topline with Spacek and Zwerger. Been with them for a while now. He averages less than 10mins per game and didn't get PP time in most games so his 9 points aren't all that bad. He's been efficient enough and an adjustment period was to be expected. If he can keep his spot then his scoring is gonna increase and he might become an option for the draft. We'll see. Too bad he probably won't be able to play the WJC20. That would have been a good showcase for him.

 

[Gianpaolo]

Initial Swiss roster for the WCJ20 was released today e he isn't on the list.

 

[cg98]

Initial Swiss roster for the WCJ20 was released today e he isn't on the list.

He cant play due to passport & citizenship issues sadly.

 

[FourQuarters]

He cant play due to passport & citizenship issues sadly.

still? When will the issue get solved?

 

[Speyer]

According to Swiss media he has decided to play for Italy in the future.

Apparently frustration with the Swiss government combined with the lesser competition for the Italian senior NT led to this decision. To bad for Switzerland as he is probably the most promising "Swiss" forward prospect right now. On the other hand he isn't exactly a blue chip prospect though and it would't have been certain if he could have been a mainstay on our NT in the future.

Its definitely disappointing to not have him on the U20 team this winter though as that ship has now sailed for good too. But its nice for Italy on the other hand as they wont loose their most promising forward prospect in years now.

 

[Hinterland]

According to Swiss media he has decided to play for Italy in the future.

Apparently frustration with the Swiss government combined with the lesser competition for the Italian senior NT led to this decision. To bad for Switzerland as he is probably the most promising "Swiss" forward prospect right now. On the other hand he isn't exactly a blue chip prospect though and it would't have been certain if he could have been a mainstay on our NT in the future.

Its definitely disappointing to not have him on the U20 team this winter though as that ship has now sailed for good too. But its nice for Italy on the other hand as they wont loose their most promising forward prospect in years now.

Definitely a huge loss for the WJC20 but the best Swiss forward prospect? I don't know about that. Even among fellow 04 born Centers, Jonas Taibel and Miles Muller have similar kind of upside. There's also 05 born Leo Braillard and a wealth of talented 06 forwards.

As we already discussed this is a bummer for the WJC20 but at senior level I think Italy needs him more than Switzerland does. This is actually good for depth in international hockey. Happy for Italy they get to keep their kid.

 

[Speyer]

Definitely a huge loss for the WJC20 but the best Swiss forward prospect? I don't know about that. Even among fellow 04 born Centers, Jonas Taibel and Miles Muller have similar kind of upside. There's also 05 born Leo Braillard and a wealth of talented 06 forwards.

As we already discussed this is a bummer for the WJC20 but at senior level I think Italy needs him more than Switzerland does. This is actually good for depth in international hockey. Happy for Italy they get to keep their kid.

Yeah its definitely debatable but I don't think any of our forward prospects has clearly separated himself from De Luca at this point. I think Reber definitely has more upside, I kinda forgot about him for a moment. But he is two years younger so they are harder to compare. But otherwise? I think Braillard and Biasca, who is not that much older than De Luca, are more or less in the same league. In Müller i just don't see the same kind of upside. Taibel has talent but has never lived up to his promise he showed on the U18 level at the U20 stage. He has been on a downwards trajectory for a couple of years now. So I am not so sure about his future outlook.

And a lot of the 06 forwards are having less than stellar seasons right now. Especially the CHL mercenaries haven't been very good. Sure I never expected these guys to be PPG in their draft year but I hoped to see a lot more out of Ponzetto, Körbler and especially Forget. Now you can always say that team context put obstacles in their way but that still doesn't explain their lack of production completely. And thats what forwards are measured by in juniors. Then there are some positive surprises like Janis Weber and Antenen but i would't comfortably put them above 17 year old De Luca either yet.

So in the end sure its very much debatable if De Luca was our best forward prospect before the nation change. But I don't see anybody who is clearly ahead of him right now with exception of maybe Reber (age adjusted). So losing him is still a setback for our program. And thats saying more about the state of our forward production than it says about his talents. Because I don't see what we have left as positively as you do apparently.

 

[Hinterland]

Yeah its definitely debatable but I don't think any of our forward prospects has clearly separated himself from De Luca at this point. I think Reber definitely has more upside, I kinda forgot about him for a moment. But he is two years younger so they are harder to compare. But otherwise? I think Braillard and Biasca, who is not that much older than De Luca, are more or less in the same league. In Müller i just don't see the same kind of upside. Taibel has talent but has never lived up to his promise he showed on the U18 level at the U20 stage. He has been on a downwards trajectory for a couple of years now. So I am not so sure about his future outlook.

And a lot of the 06 forwards are having less than stellar seasons right now. Especially the CHL mercenaries haven't been very good. Sure I never expected these guys to be PPG in their draft year but I hoped to see a lot more out of Ponzetto, Körbler and especially Forget. Now you can always say that team context put obstacles in their way but that still doesn't explain their lack of production completely. And thats what forwards are measured by in juniors. Then there are some positive surprises like Janis Weber and Antenen but i would't comfortably put them above 17 year old De Luca either yet.

So in the end sure its very much debatable if De Luca was our best forward prospect before the nation change. But I don't see anybody who is clearly ahead of him right now with exception of maybe Reber (age adjusted). So losing him is still a setback for our program. And thats saying more about the state of our forward production than it says about his talents. Because I don't see what we have left as positively as you do apparently.

Ponzetto is doing fine. Forget is stuck in Shawinigan we now know is a useless team. What they're doing this season is beyond stupid. Körbler isn't in his draft season. He's not eligible. He's a late birthday. There are also many 06 forwards more that I'm high on.

 

[Speyer]

Ponzetto is doing fine. Forget is stuck in Shawinigan we now know is a useless team. What they're doing this season is beyond stupid. Körbler isn't in his draft season. He's not eligible. He's a late birthday. There are also many 06 forwards more that I'm high on.

I would't say Ponzetto is doing fine. All I hear about his play in Halifax are questions about his hockey iq and that he is frustrating to watch because of that. Forget who you lauded as one of the very best Swiss 06 born forwards should do better if he is a draft candidate no matter how bad his team is. And I am aware that Körbler is only eligible for the draft in 2025. But its not like his struggles in NA do not matter at all because of that. He is nowhere near being on pace to be a draft candidate next year either. Just look at Miles Müller. He was doing significantly better than all three of the prospects mentioned when he was the same age as Körbler. All in all the 06 forwards are just not trending in the right direction compared to their peers on d and in goal. The ones that stayed back in Switzerland are not doing much better with the exception of Antenen. I just sort of expected some of these guys to have more success at this point.

 

[Hinterland]

I would't say Ponzetto is doing fine. All I hear about his play in Halifax are questions about his hockey iq and that he is frustrating to watch because of that. Forget who you lauded as one of the very best Swiss 06 born forwards should do better if he is a draft candidate no matter how bad his team is. And I am aware that Körbler is only eligible for the draft in 2025. But its not like his struggles in NA do not matter at all because of that. He is nowhere near being on pace to be a draft candidate next year either. Just look at Miles Müller. He was doing significantly better than all three of the prospects mentioned when he was the same age as Körbler. All in all the 06 forwards are just not trending in the right direction compared to their peers on d and in goal. The ones that stayed back in Switzerland are not doing much better with the exception of Antenen. I just sort of expected some of these guys to have more success at this point.

Too early to start panicking.
Yeah, the 06 defensemen are trending better than the forwards. However, development is never linear and there are still forwards having strong seasons so far. Paul Mottard and Lenny Giger for example, who, as late birthdays, aren't even eligible for the upcoming draft. Also, the forwards have mostly delivered internationally. If they shit the bed at the WJC18 I'm gonna be worried. For now I think we're good.

De Luca is a huge loss for the upcoming WJC20 but other than that he's one of many. If he was any better than the rest of our prospects, some NHL team would have drafted him. Should he have been drafted? I still think so. But the same goes for Miles Muller and Jonas Taibel. I think Leo Braillard has a chance to get drafted as well if he keeps up his play with Lethbridge.

Again, I think the upcoming WJC20 aside, Italy needs him way more than Switzerland.

 

[kaiser matias]

He's now played two games for Italy at the World Junior Division IB level. This effectively ties him to Italy moving forward, unless he now spends 4 years playing a new country and gets citizenship there. Could be good for Italy though to have someone like this on their roster,