DEV CAMP: Tullio making fans as he refines his game

EDMONTON, AB -Tyler Tullio's upwards trajectory has continued since being selected by the Oilers in the fifth-round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

The winger is coming off a successful foray into pro hockey, scoring 13 times and recording 26 points for the Bakersfield Condors as a rookie last season. As Tullio continues to mature, he is hoping his growth leads to a bigger role with Oilers farm team.

"For me, I think consistency is the biggest thing. It's a 72-game season and obviously every single game is against men and you can't take a day off," he said. "It was a big jump coming from junior to pro and I really thought I handled it very well. There are a lot of ups and downs in pro hockey, but once again, I thought I handled it well and I'm looking to go in next year with a really strong push and kind of show everybody what I can do."

There were ups and downs in his season as the Windsor, Ontario product mentioned. Tullio began the year playing lower down in the Condors lineup and only recording eight points in his first 28 AHL contests. As the New Year rolled around, he began to find his game, including a stretch in January and February that saw him record 17 points in 20 games and featured his first professional hat trick.

Tullio's biggest area of growth may have come in his understanding of what separates the good from the great at the pro ranks.

"I mean, everybody can shoot, everybody can skate, everybody can pass, but at the end of the day, it's the intangibles that really come into factor," he said. "I think that's something I've really strived on throughout my whole career, is the little things and a lot of hard work. That's something that I kind of roll my game after, is all those little things.

"I'm here to win, here to play for the Oilers, and no matter how long that takes, I want to push every single day and make it a tough decision on the staff and the coaches."

When Tullio came to Bakersfield, he was the third-youngest player on the roster with only Oilers first-round picks Xavier Bourgault and Dylan Holloway being his junior. Despite his age and lack of experience, he was still able to finish seventh on the Condors in scoring.

The ability to put the puck in the back of the net should come as no surprise for those who have followed Tullio's career. He has shown an aptitude for the offensive side of the game all the way back to his Junior hockey days with the Oshawa General. In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, the right winger finished eighth in the league in goals with 42 and 12th in points with 86.

Tullio is still far from a finished product however, and will likely spend the next year seasoning in the American Hockey League. He still feels there are several key elements to improve on in order to take his game to the next level and compete with the best hockey has to offer.

"For me, talking to some of the staff in Edmonton and back in Bakersfield is definitely [working on my] my skating," Tullio said. "Obviously, you have 210-pound men leaning on you, and back in junior, you have 16-year-olds who are maybe not as strong, not as physically ready. But here, there's one-year players, there's 10-year players, there's 15-year players in the league. Everybody's here to take kind of food off your plate and outwork you, but I think that's something I hold really well in my game is hard work, and I kind of want to beat the guy next to me."

Tullio's work ethic and offensive ability already has him making new fans in Oil Country. For the final day of Oilers development camp, there was a contingent of young fans cheering him on and chanting his name. Tullio enjoyed the added attention, but the responsibility that comes with that attention is not something he takes lightly as he has continued his personal development as a hockey player.

"It's just being a pro, from my time in Junior and then coming to Bakersfield, you learn a lot off ice and on ice things and it's just how you handle yourself away from the rink and I think that's a very big part of being a pro," Tullio added. "It's not so much what you do on the ice, but off the ice and being a role model for other people and I think that's something that I've slowly been turning over in my life, and hopefully someday I can be somebody's favourite player."