Performance evaluation: Hyry has been on quite a journey since signing his first contract with the Stars. The forward went undrafted and spent the first few years of his professional career playing in Liiga, the top hockey league in Finland. But after signing with Dallas in April 2024, he made the jump over to North America. He played 67 games with the Texas Stars (AHL) in the 2024-25 season and performed well (24 goals, 49 points in 67 games). He also made a quick NHL debut with a five-game stint in early January. Fast forward to the 2025-26 season, and his outlook seemed to be status quo with the Dallas roster loaded with veteran NHL players. Hyry missed a chunk of the AHL season with an injury, but still managed to post 9 goals among 19 points in 27 games in Cedar Park. But after Dallas was crippled by a handful of injuries out of the Olympic break, Hyry was recalled to the NHL roster and didn’t look back. He played in 20 of the team’s final 25 games, serving as a valuable fourth line asset. He logged his first point of the season with an assist against Utah, then scored his first career NHL goal with a shorthanded tally against Philadelphia in late March. That opened the door to a mini-surge with three goals and one assist in his final eight games, including a clutch tying goal against Toronto in the third period of the penultimate game of the season. But perhaps the strongest element of his game resided in the faceoff circle. The 25-year-old won 121 of 209 faceoffs taken (57.9 percent) to finish with the second-best win percentage on the team. It also ranked 11th in the NHL in the post-Olympic stretch (min. 200 taken). He finished under 50 percent in the dot in just five games and quickly became one of the team’s most reliable centers. Hyry also slotted onto the penalty killing unit and thrived in the role. His 2:04 shorthanded average ice time tied for third among Stars forwards, trailing only shorthanded stalwarts Oskar Bäck and Radek Faksa. The big Finn also dove into NHL playoff hockey without missing a beat. He played in Games 2-5, including an impressive Game 3 showing where he logged 20:35 ice time (including 3:20 shorthanded), 3 shots, 4 hits and 12 faceoff wins. Unfortunately, he suffered a high-ankle sprain early in Game 5 after being slew-footed and missed the remainder of the playoff run.
