The Philadelphia Flyers have made the first significant trade of the season and it involves a once highly thought of prospect going to the Dallas Stars organization.
Announced by the team on Thursday morning, the Flyers have traded 22-year-old winger Samu Tuomaala to the Stars in exchange for fellow-22-year-old defenseman Christian Kyrou. The deal is one for one.
TRADE ALERT: We’ve acquired defenseman Christian Kyrou from Dallas in exchange for forward Samu Tuomaala. https://t.co/89I4VOJ3xr
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 30, 2025
Tuomaala was a second-round pick of the Flyers in the 2021 NHL Draft at 46th overall and had a massive calling card of being a speedy winger that has the capability of putting his shot together at a high level. But gradually as the seasons progressed the hype has died down and ultimately slowed down to almost nothing at all.
The young Finnish winger was one of the first cuts the Flyers made at training camp last month and was sent down to the AHL before the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ training camp even started. The writing was on the wall that his future in Philadelphia was not going to last for much longer.
In the last two seasons with the Phantoms, Tuomaala scored 26 goals and 75 points in 117 games — a decent amount of production but the attention to detail and inability to not remain just on the perimeter of plays was a large issue for his projection to the NHL. This season, Tuomaala has played just three games for the Phantoms and was a healthy scratch on at least one occasion. Again, the writing was on the wall.
Flyers get offensive defenseman in Christian Kyrou
In Christian Kyrou, the Flyers are getting an interesting player. The 5-foot-11, right-handed defenseman was also a second-round pick, but in the 2022 NHL Draft. His time spent developing in the OHL for both the Erie Otters and the Sarnia Sting, was highlighted by the fact that he was able to produce a whole lot of points.
During his draft year, Kyrou (yes, he’s Jordan Kyrou’s brother) scored 18 goals and 60 points in just 68 games. The following year, he was moved to the Sting halfway through the season to supercharge that team that was hopeful for OHL championship contention. That did not happen but Kyrou scored a combined 77 points in 64 games during that final year of junior hockey.
That level of production hasn’t necessarily translated into the professional level. Kyrou is now in his third AHL season and has scored 12 goals and 36 points in 97 combined games during that time. Not exactly lighting the world on fire but considering the Texas Stars has a very veteran-heavy blue line with the likes of Alex Petrovic, for example, the opportunity might not have been there.
Now, the Flyers are adding someone in a similar vein to Tuomaala but on the back end. Kyrou’s size and lack of true pop in the AHL puts him in a place where the likelihood that he makes the NHL is probably at the exact same level as the now former Flyers winger.
But, there is still some hope that maybe the Flyers’ development staff down in the minors can unlock something in Kyrou; to get some of that pre-Draft hype that existed. Specifically, there were some that could see a shifty blueliner in the NHL when it came to the newest member of the Flyers organization.
“The name of the game is manipulation with Kyrou. He’ll bait defenders one way and then slide right past them in the opposite direction untouched, leaving them behind the play and hopeless to recover. All the usual suspects are there — side steps, look-offs, shoulder feints, etc. — and the Otters defender has mastered them in the pursuit of clean zone exits and better looks in the offensive zone,” the Elite Prospects 2022 NHL Draft Guide read.
We will have to see what Kyrou’s opportunity is in Lehigh Valley. With Oliver Bonk’s injury lasting for potential months and Ethan Samson also currently out, that is two right-handed defensemen that were expected to be in the lineup every single game, now out for an extended period of time. And with Emil Andrae up with the Flyers, the Phantoms could certainly use an offensively minded player back there to replace his contributions.
It is an interesting move no matter what, as the Flyers move on from one prospect fans have slowly fallen out of love on.
