Oilersnation Prospect Countdown 2022 – #10: Tyler Tullio

The Bakersfield Condors will welcome a handful of forwards to their roster this fall as they make the transition to the professional game.

Among those players is Tyler Tullio, one of the players the Oilers picked in the 2020 NHL Draft when they selected all six of their picks exclusively forwards.

Tullio will be an interesting player this season. He was described as one of the most complete forwards available in his draft, but fell much lower than expected, largely due to concerns that he wasn’t tall enough to play his game at an NHL level.

We’ve seen plenty of examples in the past of players being overlooked because of their size, and the Oilers hope Tullio can do the same. The first step will be to find a role with the Condors as a rookie in the AHL.

Position: center / right wing
Shoots: Right
Nationality: Canada / United States
Date of Birth: April 27, 1999
Designed: 2020, #126 overall (EDM)
Height: 5’10” / 178cm
Weight: 75kg

Tullio was drafted 11th overall by the Oshawa Generals in the 2018 OHL Draft. In his rookie season in the OHL, Tullio had 42 points in 60 games, and in his sophomore season he had 66 points in 62 games for the Generals.

A big OHL draft pick who had two productive appearances in his OHL pre-draft seasons had tipped Tullio as a potential candidate who would go early on day two of the NHL draft, but he ended up in the fifth round, where the Oilers eventually selected him.

It was quite shocking to see Tullio go so deep in the draft given his performance and the fact that the scouts praised him for having a very complete game for a young player. Ahead of the draft, Dobber Prospects’ Tony Ferrari hinted that Tullio was quietly one of the more complete forwards in the class…

“Tullio is quietly one of the most complete players in the draft class. He can play in all situations and anywhere in the top nine. He has good awareness on both ends of the ice and brings a creativity to the offensive zone that always makes him dangerous when the puck is on his stick. He’s smart with his racquet and consistently pulls opponents through the neutral zone. Tullio intervenes physically despite being a little short thanks to a non-stop motor. A versatile striker who can get under the opponent’s skin.”

Tullio didn’t have an opportunity to prove teams wrong in 2020-21 as the OHL’s season derailed due to COVID-19. He ended up finding a job as a professional ice hockey player in Slovakia, where he scored 13 points in 19 games.

In 2021-22, the OHL played a full season and Tullio broke out with a career-high 42 goals and 86 points in 65 games. He was the top player on a mediocre Generals team that lost in the first round of the playoffs.

This season will be Tullio’s first look at professional football in North America. While other forwards who will join the team as rookies this season, such as Xavier Bourgault and Carter Savoie, will push for offensive roles, Tullio is a multidimensional player who could thrive as an agitator in a controlling role.

Before the draft, Tullio said he models his game around Brad Marchand, the NHL’s notorious pest…

“I’m trying to model a bit after Brad Marchand, not the dirty side. He’s a little guy like me, he’s offensive, shoots, plays, has great hockey vision and uses his body. He’s gritty. He also has everything I have in my game.”

Skepticism about whether Tullio would be able to play such a style at the NHL level, given his height, led to his falling to the Oilers in the fifth round of the draft. It will be interesting to see if he can prove teams wrong for passing him along much like Marchand and others have done in the past.

FYI, players I consider “prospects” for this countdown are those who have played fewer than 50 NHL games and are aged 23 or under at the start of the 2022-23 season.