Officially, the Philadelphia Flyers have finalized their qualifying offers with Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline come and gone, featuring one surprise.
The players who were tendered qualifying offers will come as no surprise.
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Young stars Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, as well as prospects Hunter McDonald and Nikita Grebenkin, had their signing rights retained by the Flyers on Monday.
The group of players who did not have their signing rights retained was much larger, though.
A cabal of trade acquisitions–Artem Guryev, Brett Harrison, Christian Kyrou, Tucker Robertson, and Phil Tomasino–as well as Karsen Dorwart, were not given qualifying offers and are free to sign with other NHL organizations, starting Wednesday, July 1.
Kyrou, a 2026 AHL All-Star, is the name many Flyers fans are stuck on, given how promising he looked during his short time with the Flyers organization.
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After being traded for Samu Tuomaala early in the year, Kyrou ripped off 10 goals, 24 assists, and 34 points in just 55 games with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, though that surge of offense was, obviously, not enough to warrant keeping him around.
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In the interest of fairness, the Flyers do have a considerable number of options at Kyrou’s position.
Former second-round pick Spencer Gill will be turning pro this year, in addition to David Jiricek and Oliver Bonk pushing for NHL roster spots with the Flyers.
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Plus, Carter Amico, Luke Vlooswyk, and Brek Liske are all one or two years away from turning pro themselves.
Basically, the Flyers decided that, if Kyrou wasn’t going to make the NHL on their team now, he never will, and the Tuomaala trade already proved that the young defenseman’s trade value around the league was nil.
From here, the Flyers’ next steps will be to re-sign Zegras, Drysdale, Grebenkin, and McDonald to NHL contracts with greater term and/or salary.
