Samu Tuomaala started to face a tall climb in the Flyers’ organization.
That climb ended Thursday as the Flyers traded the 22-year-old prospect to the Stars in exchange for Christian Kyrou.
Tuomaala, the club’s top 2021 draft pick, had played in just three of AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley’s first eight games. The speedy winger was an AHL All-Star in 2023-24, but he had a drop-off last season, recording 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) and a minus-19 rating in 46 games.
The second-round pick battled an injury and had gotten sick two or three times last season. He didn’t appear in the playoffs for the Phantoms.
The Flyers are pretty set long term on the right wing with Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink, so the chances of Tuomaala cracking the club’s top nine down the road looked like a stretch.
He’ll have a change of scenery with the Stars’ organization.
Meanwhile, the Flyers get a defensive prospect with Kyrou, who was selected by Dallas in the second of the 2022 draft. The 22-year-old is the younger brother of Blues leading scorer Jordan Kyrou.
The 5-foot-11, 165-pounder put up his best AHL season in 2023-24, when he had 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) and a minus-5 rating through 57 games. In the playoffs that season, he had seven points (one goal, six assists) over seven games.
Kyrou was scoreless in four games this season with the Stars’ AHL affiliate Texas. He’ll report to Lehigh Valley.