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The Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks connected on a trade involving Trevor Zegras on Monday. After a lot of rumors swirling around Zegras for the past year, his time with Anaheim has come to an end. He lands with Rick Tocchet and the Flyers, who gave up a second-rounder, a fourth-rounder, and Ryan Poehling. How did both sides fare in the deal?
The Flyers took on Zegras at his full contract value. He has one year left at $5.75 million and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the deal. They gave the Ducks the 45th overall pick in Saturday's second round with a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft. Poehling has one year left at $1.9 million before he hits unrestricted free agency.
The Flyers pay a price to land a high-upside player
There is no denying that Zegras has incredible skill. He has some incredible highlight reel goals and assists in his young career, and landed on the cover of the EA Sports video game because of it. But he has struggled playing center in all three zones, something that is a mandate as a top-six center in the NHL. The Athletic's Kevin Kurz reported after the deal that the Flyers do expect him to play center. That is a high-reward gamble that they gave up a lot to make.
Zegras had two stellar seasons with the Ducks, 61 points in 2021-22 and 65 points in 2022-23. He was just 20 and 21 years old, respectively, when he had those seasons. Since then, it's been a significant drop-off, partially due to injuries. A fresh start may be exactly what he needs to bring the Flyers back to the postseason.
If Zegras and Rick Tocchet see eye-to-eye, and he ascends to a point-per-game player, this is a great deal. If he continues his trivial NHL career, they gave up a lot, but not so much that it sets back their franchise. For a team floating in space, talent is a good bet.
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Flyers grade: B+
The Ducks end the Trevor Zegras experiment
The Ducks won the Pacific Division in five straight seasons and made six straight postseason appearances from 2013-2018. That core did not win the Stanley Cup, and it was torn down in favor of a rebuild. In 2019, they took Zegras ninth overall as the second big piece of that rebuild. Now, he is gone, and the Ducks have not gotten any closer to the postseason. With Joel Quenneville and Pat Verbeek leading the show, there is reason to be optimistic about the future. But their first attempt at a rebuild was an epic failure.
That is not the fault of Zegras. He dealt with injuries, was not given elite linemates to play with, and the rest of the team was abysmal. Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier, and Pavel Mintyukov will now headline the second attempt at rebuilding to make the playoffs. Quenneville won three Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks, so he should be able to get the most out of this group.
Poehling is a defensive, bottom-six player. He is also young and cheap against the salary cap. That is exactly what the Ducks needed this offseason, not another overpaid veteran to go along with Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, and Alex Killorn. Poehling helps them save money to spend in free agency. And the Ducks don't have to negotiate a new contract with Zegras, which would have taken away their opportunity to sign more players this offseason.
Ducks grade: B-
