Arttu Hyry and His Hot Stick Make Their NHL Debut

(Credit: Manitoba Moose)

Arttu Hyry adds his name to the ever-growing list of rookie callups, becoming the fourth Texas Star to make their NHL debut this season for Dallas. Hyry joined Oskar Bäck and his two Texas teammates Lian Bischel and Justin Hryckowian with his first NHL game last night.

After making the jump from his home country of Finland playing in the Finnish league for Kärpät, playing 55 games in his final season, Hyry scored 14 points and 17 assists for 31 points.

The 23-year old signed a two-year entry level contract with the Dallas Stars last April making the jump to North America. Hyry nearly made Dallas’ opening day roster, impressing the Stars brass before getting cut in the final round.

Getting out to a slow start in Cedar Park, Hyry exploded during the month of December. In his past 12 games for the Texas Stars, he has at least one point in the past 11. He currently holds the AHL’s longest current point streak at 10 games.

Before his call up to Dallas for Thursday’s night's game versus the Ottawa Senators, Hyry captured his first North American hat trick in Texas’ December 29th victory over Manitoba. He is currently the only Texas Star with a hat trick this season.

On Texas’ New Year’s Eve game, Hyry netted his fifth multi-point game of the season scoring another goal versus Manitoba and assisting Matěj Blümel in the first period in their 3-1 win over the Moose.

Hyry is currently ranked in a five-way tie for eighth place for most goals in the AHL with 14. On his own team, Hyry is currently second just behind Blumel and third in points.

100 Degree Hockey spoke with Texas head coach Neil Graham about Hyry’s development before Texas’ longest road trip of the season in early December. Graham remarked that Hyry was not too far from the NHL level.

“[He’s a] very intelligent person, and to see him pick up our style, the way the games played over here, so quickly, and then to have success on both sides of the puck, you really got to give the player a lot of credit,” Graham said.

In his NHL debut, Hyry mostly played on the wing in the Stars 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Hyry was a remarkable 6-for-6 on the dot, including four wins against Tim Stutzle.

“I liked it, the atmosphere was amazing,” Hyry said after his NHL debut. “It's also nice to get a win.”

In the second period, Hyry had his only scoring opportunity of the game. In the low slot, Hyry captured the puck but being pressured by an Ottawa defenseman his wrist shot sailed left hitting the boards instead.

Not backing down with the lights of the American Airlines Center shining upon him, Hyry made his presence on the ice known, delivering a couple of big checks to opposing Senators. His biggest hit came to Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen along the right corner.

Despite being on the ice little under nine minutes, Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer was pleased with the Finn’s debut, filling out the bottom six.

“The guys we put in the bottom six have done a good job,” DeBoer said. “Arttu came six-six on draws, he’s a big man, heavy, hard. He did a good job on the depth lines.”

With both Tyler Seguin recently undergoing hip surgery and Mason Marchment out on a week-to-week basis, Hyry may stay with Dallas for an extended period of time, giving him more chances to make a big impression.