The Philadelphia Flyers made one final trade in 2025, sending defenseman Egor Zamula to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Philip Tomasino. Tomasino reported to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL and made his debut on Saturday night in Belleville.
However, while Tomasino was hitting the ice for the first time with his new team, Zamula was suspended by the Penguins, according to the AHL’s transaction log.
Zamula recently changed his agent to Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey in an effort to facilitate a move from the Flyers. There were talks that Zamula wanted to have his contract terminated in order to find a new home, but the Flyers waited it out and swapped the disgruntled defenseman for Tomasino.
Zamula hilariously suspended after no-show on new AHL team
It’s still only been a few days since the trade, and nothing has come out from Zamula or the Penguins regarding the suspension, so it might just be a formality. The blueliner may be working with the Penguins on a delayed arrival in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton or a possible contract termination.
Acquired earlier this week from #LetsGoFlyers, the Penguins #LetsGoPens have suspended defenseman Egor Zamula for failure to report to AHL Wilkes-Barre.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 4, 2026
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Zamula may be looking to return to Russia to play in the KHL, but that’s pure speculation. He played in Russia as a 16- and 17-year-old before coming over to North America for the 2017-18 season.
Whatever the reason, Zamula has failed to show up after getting what he wanted and was traded away from the Flyers since there was no place for him in the lineup anymore after plenty of defensemen overtook him in the depth chart. But apparently it wasn’t the right situation or maybe he didn’t realize that since he cleared waivers less than 30 days ago, he can still be easily sent down to the AHL like he was assigned there by the Penguins immediately following the trade.
The now 25-year-old Zamula failed to establish himself as more than a bottom-pairing defenseman in the last few years for the Flyers. He’s played 168 NHL games in his career, though, so it’s possible that one of the other 30 teams outside the state of Pennsylvania may desire his services. If not, a return to his home country could very well be in the cards for the defenseman.
Swapping Zamula for Tomasino was the latest of subtly shrewd moves by Danny Briere and the Flyers. They’ve been able to find undervalued players in recent years and turn them into important players and trade pieces (Sean Walker), as well as some role players like Carl Grundstrom in the Ryan Ellis trade.
Tomasino does have the potential to contribute at the NHL level. He was the 24th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Predators and has put up strong numbers in the AHL. That hasn’t quite translated into a ton of success in the NHL, though, even with a change of scenery to the Penguins.
It’ll all be worth it if it results in Flyers fans getting a chance to poke fun at Pittsburgh for Zamula refusing to play there.