Flyers acquire center Trevor Zegras in latest trade with Anaheim Ducks

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 23, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — Sitting on the dais next to new head coach Rick Tocchet in May, Flyers general manager Danny Brière said the plan hadn’t changed. Well, that could be debatable now.

The Flyers pulled off a big-time deal Monday, acquiring Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Ryan Poehling, the 45th pick in this year’s draft and a fourth-round pick next season. Of course, a deal that had been rumored for over a year finally happened on June 23, a notorious day in Flyers history: Several Flyers have been traded on this date, including Mike Richards, Jeff Carter,and Brayden Schenn, and one year ago it brought the early arrival of Matvei Michkov.

Drafted ninth overall by the Ducks in 2019, Zegras quickly became a star in the NHL with his talent and personality. The Bedford, N.Y., native is highly skilled and could develop into the top-tier center the Flyers have been craving for years.

But the 24-year-old has struggled in recent years. Across the last two seasons under Greg Cronin, Zegras battled both injuries and had trouble finding his game. This past season, he had 12 goals and 32 points in 57 regular-season games while primarily playing the wing. In 2023-24, he had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 31 games, missing more than two months with a broken left ankle.

Tocchet has a proven track record of developing forwards, as noted by career years from Brock Boeser and Pius Suter in Vancouver. And, there is immense talent that does lie under the surface with Zegras, as evidenced by his two 60-point seasons, that could be ready to bubble up with a change of scenery and Michkov on his wing. Zegras has one year left on his contract at a $5.75 million salary-cap hit.

Before Cronin was hired — he was replaced a few weeks ago by Joel Quenneville — Zegras tallied back-to-back 60-plus point seasons as a 20- and 21-year-old. He scored 23 goals each season, and saw his point total rise from 61 in 75 regular-season games in 2021-22 to 65 in 81 the following season. Across those two seasons, he combined for 13 power-play goals and 34 power-play points.

Does he play the best defensive game? No, but Zegras has also put himself on the map with his creativity inside the game. At just 24, he boasts strong vision and high hockey IQ. He popularized “The Michigan,” a lacrosse-style way of scoring, and drew the ire of former Flyers bench boss John Tortorella when he pulled an alley-oop-type move to set up teammate Sonny Milano in December 2021.

“It’s tremendously skilled,” said Tortorella, who was then an analyst on ESPN. “For Sonny Milano to even yell, ‘Michigan’ in the middle of a play, in a game, is skill. That’s a skilled play. My position, though is, is it good for the game? I hear Ray [Ferraro], like all the kids are doing it now in practice and stuff like that. I’m not so sure.

“I’m not trying to be a fool here, I’m just not so sure it’s great for the game. If you did that back in the 2000s, late ’90s, you would get your head taken off. It’s cool, it’s cool to watch and all that, but I’m not so sure it’s good for the game. And I stand by that.”

Zegras is close buddies with Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who was also acquired from the Ducks, and is also a friend and former teammate of Cam York with USA Hockey in 2020. He helped lead the U.S. to gold at the 2021 World Juniors.

“I honestly don’t think [Canada’s] been tested with a real team yet and I think we’re kind of going on all cylinders right now,” Zegras responded matter-of-factly when asked about having to beat an undefeated and powerhouse Canadian squad — which Drysdale and Jakob Pelletier were on — in the gold-medal game. “I think we’re going to catch them by surprise, and I think we’ll go from there.”

Well, he put his money where his mouth was. Zegras scored the insurance goal, the second five-on-five goal against the Canadians, who had not allowed one the whole tournament.

The U.S. won 2-0, its first gold since 2017 and fifth in the program’s history. Zegras finished with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) and was named the tournament’s MVP. His assist on the first goal of the game by Alex Turcotte tied him with Jordan Schroeder for most USA career assists in World Juniors history (20), and after the goal, tied Schroeder in points (27).

With the move of Poehling, it does appear that the plan is for Zegras to play center. Poehling was the Flyers’ top bottom-six pivot and brought speed, scoring ability and defensive prowess since signing a bet-on-himself one-year deal with the Flyers in the summer of 2023. The Minnesotan earned himself a two-year extension in January 2024 and posted career highs in goals (12), assists (19) and points (31) this past season.

The interesting part of this deal is that the Flyers traded the No. 45 pick, and not No. 40, which they originally got from the Ducks. That deal sent Cutter Gauthier west in exchange for Drysdale.

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