Ottawa Senators Top 25 Under 25, #18: Lassi Thomson

#18 Lassi Thomson

Reader Rank: #25, Last Year: #16

Lassi Thomson's inclusion on our Top 25 Under 25 for 2024 feels more mandated than indicative of any real future with the organization. The Finnish defenseman signed a two-year contract with the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL in May, and he seems pretty set on moving on from his time with the Ottawa Senators. At the time of the signing, Thomson was quoted as saying:

“I am very happy to have signed for Malmo,” Thomson said in a statement released by the club Monday. “This will be a fresh start for me in a new organization that I have heard many good things about.”

As a reminder, the Sens put Thomson on waivers on Oct 1st last year and he was promptly snapped up by the Anaheim Ducks. Just a week later, though, the Ducks put him back on waivers and....Ottawa re-claimed him? He then played the whole campaign with Belleville in the AHL, not so much getting a sniff at a recall despite the Sens falling out of play-off contention very early in the season and (perhaps relatedly) operating a perilously thin right side of their blue line. Sens management looked at Jacob Bernard Docker's persistent struggles and still thought "Nope, Lassi Thomson can't help us here." When Thomson signed with Malmo, it was to no one's great surprise.

What did qualify as at least mildly surprising was that Steve Staios and co. extended a qualifying offer to Thomson on June 30th, meaning they retain his NHL rights at this time. Will anything come of the decision to keep him around? I'd wager that Thomson won't suit up for the Sens' franchise again, but maybe he could be a throw-in as part of a bigger trade. He'll be 24 next month, so it's not like he's a prospect, but, and bear with me now, there is still some potential that might be of interest to the right team.

At this stage, Thomson's player profile is well-known to Sens fans: he has some offensive skills, particularly a booming shot, that can make him effective in bursts. His persistent defensive struggles, however, have seemingly put a hard cap on his long-term potential. When he first debuted with Ottawa during the 2021-22 season, I remember thinking that he showed real flashes of creativity but that he also more frequently seemed like he was reading the game a step too slowly. Defensively, his reads were often a step behind and his rotations suffered as a consequence. Like many others, I hoped that with a couple of years of seasoning, he could grow into a contributor. Instead, he stalled out, and his movement in our Top 25 Under 25, never getting higher than #11 in 2022, is reflective of that.

At the end of the day, the readers have seemingly already moved on from Lassi. His ranking at #25 would have him behind several less skilled, less proven players. We kept him at #18 but that's probably more wishful thinking than anything else. Not every player hits, but missing on a first round pick like Thomson when Ottawa was in the middle of a rebuild stings. Barring a dramatic turn-around this could be his last entry in these rankings. Fare thee well, Lassi, I hope it works out for you in Sweden.