Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth round (No. 126) of the 2020 NHL Draft, the 20-year-old forward had 86 points (42 goals, 44 assists) in 65 games as captain of Oshawa in the Ontario Hockey League last season.
The Detroit native is expected to play for Bakersfield in the American Hockey League.
"This is my job now and I am treating it like that," Tullio said at Oilers development camp in June, "and hopefully I can do it for the rest of my life. Once I got drafted and then I came to my first development camp last year, it was an eye-opener for me and helped me realize what I have to do to be a professional player.
"[The Oilers] see me as a hard-working guy who can play up and down the lineup and put pucks in the net. I think that's something I've been able to do over the last 12 months and I think for myself, it's just about keeping that going and showing everybody here that I'm ready to play in the NHL."
Tullio (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) played three seasons for Oshawa and had 66 points (27 goals, 39 assists) in 62 games as a 17-year-old before being selected by the Oilers. He played for Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia's top professional league in 2020-21 when the Ontario Hockley League canceled its season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
"Offensively, last year, he had a really good year," Oilers director of amateur scouting and player personnel Tyler Wright said. "He also had a really good year in the gym and got bigger and stronger and has worked very hard. We're trying to give him every resource possible for him to become the best player that he can be. It's our job to develop these young men and make sure we're pushing them in the right direction, but at the end of the day he has to put the time and effort in, and we have to help him along."
Tullio is looking to develop into a two-way forward who can contribute up and down the lineup. He will attend Oilers training camp looking to impress the coaching staff and display his growth from the past two seasons.
"Coming back into this development camp, I feel ready, I feel confident and I'm ready to take the next step forward in my career," Tullio said. "I thought I had a great season, last season, but at the same time my teammates and my coaches helped a lot. It wasn't a one-year thing. It was a progression over three or four years, and I can't thank everybody enough who helped me get here."
Oshawa was eliminated in the first round of the OHL playoffs by Kingston. Tullio had seven points (two goals, five assists) in six postseason games.
"I think getting that confidence was big for me last season," Tullio said. "You're an older guy in the league, so you kind of have a lot more responsibility on your shoulders. It was a lot younger league this year in the OHL, but at the same time, I didn't worry about that. I just kept a straight-minded focus and did everything I could to improve every night and be the best player I could be every single night."
